A Texas father is accused of beating his three-year-old son to death and scalding his two-year-old son because they had trouble with potty training, police say.

Anthony Powell, 24, of Houston is charged with capital murder for allegedly killing his son Tristan Powell and is expected to be charged for abusing his younger son, according to KHOU 11 News.

Prosecutors say Powell struck Tristan each time he wet himself and last week hit him so hard the boy banged his head on the bathroom floor, KPRC-TV reports.

Afterward, the boy complained he was sleepy and in the morning he woke up with trouble breathing. His aunt, Prosha Land, called an ambulance. Tristan died later that night from a fractured skull and brain swelling.

While the family was at the hospital, an officer discovered Tristan's younger brother, wrapped in a blanket, was injured, the station reports. Prosecutors allege Powell beat the younger boy with a belt and scalded him.

Authorities say Land, 23, was present while the boys were allegedly beaten. She's charged with injury to a child by omission.

Powell had picked up the boys from their mother's house 215 km away in Jasper about two weeks ago.