Indiana mom Sascha Collins beat kids for opening Christmas gifts early, police say

GREENFIELD, Ind. – Police say they arrested an Indiana mother accused of beating her two children who opened their Christmas presents early, according to court documents.

Sascha Collins, 36, is accused of hitting the 7- and 9-year-old boys with a belt buckle, biting one of them and throwing both against a wall after leaing the children had opened their Christmas gifts.

She has been charged with domestic battery with bodily injury to a person under 14 and domestic battery to a disabled person with bodily injury.

“The children had bruises and marks all over them,” said Derek Towle, acting chief of the Greenfield Police.

“When we see these types of things happen it breaks our hearts knowing that this is going on. We try to see that it was just a kid’s excitement and that is what we want for them to have, excitement around Christmas time,” said Towle.

Police say the boys’ teenage sister came home to find them injured. She took them from the house and called for help.

In an interview with police, Collins called her children “disrespectful” and “out of control.” She said she spanked them and she knows she went overboard. She told police she doesn’t remember everything.

According to court documents, in an interview with police Collins called her children “disrespectful and out of control.” She says she spanked them and knows she “went overboard.” She also told police she doesn’t remember everything because she “just lost it.”

Towle said the situation is “very heartbreaking. It’s tough to see that kind of thing and hear that and respond to it, but we have a job to do and that’s one of the things we try to take care of.”

Police interviewed the older sister of the boys. She told officers she found her brothers crying with marks on their body from where their mom had hit them with a belt. She said on Dec. 17 she went with Christmas shopping with Collins and a friend. After shopping, the three of them went home, wrapped the presents and then Collins put the presents in her closet, court documents state.

During the interview with officers, the boys’ sister said their mother was an alcoholic and passed out that night after consuming an excessive amount of alcohol. The sister continued to say that she and a friend left house for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Upon retuing to the residence, she recalled hearing what she thought were the two boys crying and other sounds indicating that they were in pain.

The sister also stated that the mother was walking about the house saying that she had been “blessed with the worst kids ever”, stating they were incredibly ungrateful. Documents show the sister said the mother stated that the two boys went into her room and opened the presents.

One of the children told the sister that Collins threw him around the room and into walls, bit him and struck him in the face with a belt, according to court documents. The other child said physical abuse inflicted upon him by Collins was of a similar manner.

Documents also show that one of the boys told the sister the mother told him her and her boyfriend, Patrick, were going to beat and kill him. The sister also stated that she witnessed her mother crush up and then snort half a Hydrocodone.

The sister also stated that one of the brothers, who is said to have a mental disability, is repeatedly called “retarded” by Collins whenever she gets mad, documents state.

After interviewing the boys about incident, officers took Collins into custody at her residence on Dec 18 and transported to the Hancock County Jail.

A pretrial conference for Collins has been scheduled for February 15th.

Collins is facing felony battery charges including battery of a handicapped child with injury. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Feb. 15.