ST. GEORGE – A Toquerville woman accused of abusing her 12-year-old son is requesting bondable bail and better conditions in jail.

Ed Flint, attorney for Brandy K. Janyes, filed a motion for a bail hearing that was approved by the court for Jan. 14.

She is currently being held on a $20,000 cash-only bond. Jaynes is also currently living in the bookings area of the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility, sleeping on a cot and is without regular access to showers, Flint said outside the courtroom.

“Either she’s got to have a reasonable bond amount she can pay, or she’s got to have a bed and a shower at the jail,” Flint said.

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Jaynes faces a second-degree felony for child abuse, and for someone with no prior criminal history, Flint said, $10,000 or less was generally what was imposed. As it stands, the $20,000 bond amount could be a potential 8th Amendment issue, he said.

Despite her current environment at the jail, Flint said, Jaynes “seems to be doing OK,” and is “very concerned about her son.”

Flint said he has been told by county officials that the 12-year-old boy was released from the hospital and placed in a foster care home. The boy’s twin and a younger sibling were also placed in separate foster care homes following the mother’s arrest Jan. 9, Flint said.

According to police records, the 12-year-old boy was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center by his father for care. The boy was described as being emaciated and weighing only 30 pounds at the time.

Washington County Sheriff’s Lt. David Crouse said photos of the boy reminded him of a World War II concentration camp victim. He also said a doctor told deputies that the boy had the worse case of child malnourishment he had ever seen.

The conditions the boy was reported to be living in by the father and the boy himself were compared “to something out of a horror movie,” Crouse said.

The boy was allegedly locked in a filthy, feces-covered bathroom by his mother for over a year and starved. While Flint doesn’t dispute some aspects of the story, he said the public doesn’t have the whole story either.

“The viral story that got out there portrays Brandy as some kind of witch who was intentionally torturing one of her three children,” Flint said. “That is not the whole story. There are certainly elements to that story that are not going to be refuted. It’s a nasty situation, but there’s more to the story.”

As to the boy’s physical and mental health – speculation that he may be autistic was floated by Flint initially – Flint said he won’t know for sure until he’s had a chance to review the evidence the Washington County Attorney’s Office has supplied him. Flint also plans to request records from the Washington County School District concerning the Jaynes children, as well as secure an investigator in the case to interview witnesses and review evidence.

The Washington County Attorney’s Office was unable to comment on the case in detail due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The story of the 12-year-old boy has since made international headlines and attracted the attention of well-wishers from the community and around the world who want to help the boy somehow.

Many donations offered by the community, as well as from across the nation and overseas, were received by the Washington County Children’s Justice Center at 463 E. 500 South in St. George. Some of those locations have included Idaho, Nebraska, California, Canada and England. Donations have since been taken to the foster family caring for the boy.

Those wishing to make monetary donations can do so on the center’s website here. The Center’s phone number is 435-634-1134.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Ed. note: This article has been updated to reflect the change of date for the bail hearing.

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