Court documents reveal months of injuries to child in Le Roy case

Court documents in the case of a Le Roy mother accused of assaulting her 2-year-old daughter paint a months-long trail of multiple injuries to the tot, a boyfriend who admits to being a heroin addict, and a young woman who allegedly didn't know how to properly discipline a child.

The documents include a deposition from a man identified only as the boyfriend of Christina Pahura (the court redacted his name), who was arrested on charges of assault in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child, and a deposition from a licensed day care provider in Le Roy.

Both documents recount more than two months of these adults observing injuries on the little girl, including broken limbs, bruises on the her butt and vaginal area and welts on her head.

The depositions are tough reading and Det. John Condidorio said it was a hard case to investigate.

"The pictures are really difficult to look at," Condidorio said. "It was a difficult process."

The case took months to get through because investigators wanted to make sure to build a case they were confident in, Condidorio said. As soon as the investigation started in February, the child was removed from the mother's care, Condidorio said.

According to the depositions, Pahura either had explanations for the injuries and, later, couldn't explain the injuries. At one point just before police were called in, Pahura allegedly told her boyfriend that she blacked out while spanking the child and snapped back to reality to find she was punching the child.

The Batavian's news partner, 13WHAM, contacted Pahura outside her apartment in Le Roy yesterday, and Pahura declined an interview request.

"You're not getting any other side," Pahura told a 13WHAM reporter. "Do whatever you want. Goodbye. Tell your camera man to turn around, too."

According to the depositions, documentation of the injuries to the child began in the Fall of 2014. First, there was bruising, then the child showed up to daycare with a cast on her arm, a cast that was removed a month later. Then the child started to limp, and during this time, bruises started appearing on her butt and vaginal area.

Finally, in early February, Pahura took the child to the hospital in Brockport, which is about the time Le Roy PD began its criminal investigation.

The boyfriend states in his deposition that he didn't call police because "it is not in my nature" and that he didn't call CPS anonymously because he didn't know that was an option. He also feared being blamed for the alleged abuse because he already has a criminal record.

The deposition was taken July 15 with his attorney present.

More than once, according to the deposition, the man offered to handle disciplining the children.

"Christina had a history of what I believed to be excessive punishment," the man said.

He describes incidents of Pahura hitting and slapping the victim along with two other children.

He said the alleged broken arm occurred sometime before Nov. 11. He said he and Pahura were in the basement. He was lifting weights and she was doing laundry. They heard a loud thump upstairs and then crying. When they went upstairs, the girl was on the floor and another child was on the couch. 

"The following morning," he states, "(the child) was favoring her arm and Christina had her father take (the child) to the doctor and the arm was splinted."

The cast was removed around Christmas, but the boyfriend doesn't say who removed it.

The first leg injury, the boyfriend believes, occurred New Year's Day. After spending New Year's Eve without any of the children, the couple picked them up that evening and were walking down a hill back to the house when the child stopped on the sidewalk and was hesitant to go down the hill on a dark, snowy night. He said Pahura's hands were full of gifts and he believes she pushed the child with her knee, told her to hurry up, then pushed her with her foot and the child fell forward, striking her head on the sidewalk. 

"This caused a large, good egg about the middle of (the child's) forehead and I believe (she) broke her leg at this time also," the boyfriend reportedly told police. "I say this as directly after (the child) got inside, she started having difficulty walking and this continued for six to seven weeks. When (the child) put too much pressure on her foot she would almost cry."

Pahura allegedly wouldn't take the child to the doctor, saying she was fine, the boyfriend said. 

The boyfriend recalls getting involved with drugs again in October and was spending about half his paycheck on drugs during this time. He recalls more incidents that may have led to bruising and cuts on the child early in the new year.

The daycare provider started documenting injuries to the child on Oct. 1, (The child started care a month earlier.) but it's unclear why the provider did not contact authorities sooner.

Initially, the provider said, Pahura said the child was injured from falls or bumping against objects in the home and when the child appeared to have a leg injury, Pahura reportedly said the child had just slept on it wrong.