by Adeola Balogun

A woman and her lover have been charged with cruelty to a child after they locked her young son in an animal cage.

24-year-old Crystal Jean Hostetter and her 30-year-old girlfriend, Sara Elizabeth McClain are said to have also covered the boy, 6  in syrup and poured cat faeces on him.

The duo who reside in Douglasville in Atlanta, were also charged with reckless conduct.

NY Daily reports:

The mother allegedly covered the boy’s hands and feet in syrup, even though she knew he had behavior issues that included a fear of being sticky. Then she and her girlfriend covered the syrup with cat litter, according to the Douglas County Sentinel newspaper.

The “punishment” lasted for two hours Saturday night, and there witnesses to the women stuffing the child into the cage, police said. The boy screamed “Please don’t kill me” and “I thought you loved me.”

The women admitted to forcing the boy to hold a brick over his head and locking him in the dog cage, but claimed they were only disciplining the boy, according to KXIA-TV. They deliberately covered him in syrup, knowing his fear of being sticky would upset him.

The women and the boy had moved just last month to Douglasville and officials said they were checking with authorities in Pennsylvania, where the three previously lived, to see if there were and previous instances of abuse involving the women.

Douglas Police Sgt. Todd Garner interviewed the child and said he was physically fine but had been mentally abused, the station reported. The boy asked police to help his mother and continually asked if she was OK.