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Mom accused of child abuse in Facebook video allowed visitation with son

Posted at 12:08 PM, Aug 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-30 20:01:55-04

DENVER -- The mom accused of abusing her child in a video that went viral is being allowed to see her son, with restrictions.

Katrina Kennedy-Flores was arrested on child abuse charges May 18 after the disturbing video was posted on Facebook and YouTube, igniting public outrage.

While a judge initially barred Kennedy-Flores from having any contact with her son, or anyone else under 18, that was changed Tuesday. The judge ruled Kennedy-Flores may have limited, supervised, therapeutic visits with her son. However, he can't come to her residence and she can't be alone with him.

Kennedy-Flores did not speak in court or to reporters after the hearing.

She's expected back in court in October.

-- The video --

Multiple people emailed the video to Denver7 in May concerned about the welfare of the child. The video is extremely difficult to watch. In it, you can hear the mother cursing at the boy and screaming while he cries. She threatens to kill him multiple times.

During one hearing, prosecutors described the video as "horrifying" and told the judge that Kennedy-Flores berated the boy and used language that a prosecutor was not comfortable repeating in court.

The woman who recorded the video said she had witnessed abusive behavior toward the child during the time she lived with Kennedy-Flores. She said she decided to post the video to Facebook because she felt like police were not doing enough.

"In the playpen, she was actually physically beating him with her fist," she told Denver7. "And then she grabbed the high chair, it sits on a seat a regular seat and she grabbed it and she was pounding it on him like over and over and over again."

She explained she didn't step in because she is disabled and has a hard time getting around. She said she was also fearful for her life and her 17-year-old son who can be seen in the video.

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