Abuse case as child discovered in cage

THE adoptive parents of a 17-year-old boy who weighed three and a half stones when found in a home where he was forced to wear a nappy and sleep in a locked, cage-like bed have been charged with child neglect.

Welfare workers called to Wilson and Brenda Sullivan’s home in Jacksonville, Florida, found the teenager wearing a nappy and appearing developmentally delayed, a police report said.

The boy was less than 4 ft 6 ins tall and was in the weight range of a six-year-old, officials said.

Wilson Sullivan’s sister, Ordrianne, said: “They’re painting a picture of my family as monsters, and they’re not, they truly are not,” she said.