BEAUMONT, Texas — A Beaumont woman has been given 10 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping.
Equatta Youtta Weatherall, 36, previously pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping for her part in the severe beating of a man in February 2023.
She appeared before Judge John Stevens Monday morning along with her attorney to receive the sentence.
The plea agreement allowed Judge Stevens to give her up to 10 years in prison. As part of the agreement, a related charge of aggravated assault was dropped.
The prosecutor said in court that the victim lost an eye in the attack and said the victim gave a statement that Weatherall looked like she was enjoying it the whole time she was kicking him.
Judge Stevens sentenced Weatherall to the full 10 years and said “It's just not a kidnapping. This was a torture of another human being. That's inhumane. I can't imagine treating another human like that.”
Weatherall is one of four people charged for this crime.
On February 13th, 2023 shortly after 2:30 p.m. officers with the Beaumont Police Department responded to Autumn Oaks Apartments after receiving a call about an assault according to the probable cause affidavit.
Officers spoke with the victim who had been badly beaten on the face and body for several hours, according to the affidavit. Both of the victim's eyes were swollen shut and he had a "large swelling" across his forehead.
Police said the victim identified Weatherall, Louis Franklin, Rebekah Foyil and Stephen Adams as his assailants.
The victim told police Franklin and Adams dragged him from one apartment to their apartment against his will and began punching him in the face. He then told police he fell and Franklin and Adams began kicking him in the face.
Adams allegedly stomped on the victim's face with steel-toe boots.
Following the assault, the victim said the suspects took his wallet and cell phone from his pockets and demanded his banking information regarding his disability money, according to the affidavit.
The victim also told officers Weatherall and Foyil were kicking him on the head while he was on the ground. He said Franklin and Adams tied his hands behind his back and dragged him to the shower.
Once he was dragged into the shower, Franklin and Adams allegedly forced the victim's head under a running faucet, in what an affidavit calls "waterboarding-style torture." The suspects also reportedly demanded the pin code to the victim's phone.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
