Brad Zinn

bzinn@newsleader.com

STAUNTON – Kalynn Mazzola didn't slap her 1-year-old daughter. She wasn't the one who smashed her head into a wall. Mazzola didn't physically break the toddler's ribs.

But she didn't bother to stop the abuse either.

In court Wednesday, the 19-year-old Waynesboro woman pleaded guilty to a felony count of child abuse after she did nothing to prevent her boyfriend, 26-year-old Andrew Ottinger, from harming the child.

"Hers is a crime of omission," said Waynesboro Commonwealth's Attorney David Ledbetter.

And thanks to the efforts of a 16-year-old girl, the abuse was stopped.

The child was abused in December, according to previous testimony, although injuries were also discovered that had already healed.

At Ottinger's April hearing, where he pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and child abuse, Ledbetter said the abuse was reported to the Waynesoro Police Department by the 16-year-old girl, a friend of the couple who visited their home on Monticello Street.

Ottinger was witnessed slapping the child in the face, and also made her stand in a corner with her forehead against the wall. When the girl's head would break contact with the wall, Ledbetter said Ottinger would push the back of her head and "smash" it into the wall.

In another incident, Ledbetter said Ottinger ordered the girl to place her toys inside a toy box, and then hit her with a backhand with such force that it lifted the girl off the floor and into a wall. Pictures of the young girl showed two black eyes and bruising that covered much of her body. Following Ottinger's arrest, authorities took the girl to Augusta Health, where she was diagnosed with broken ribs and older rib fractures that had healed, according to Ledbetter. A report from the Fishersville hospital said the injuries to the girl were caused by "non-accidental trauma."

The child, expected to make a full recovery, has been placed with a foster family.

On Wednesday in Waynesboro Circuit Court, Ledbetter said that after the teen witnessed the attacks on the 1-year-old girl, she told her mother. Ledbetter said the mother spoke to Mazzola, and tried to persuade her into leaving Ottinger in an effort to get the child away from him.

"And she still refused to do that," Ledbetter said.

That's when the girl and her mother went to the Waynesboro Police Department.

"Kudos to these folks for looking out for this child," Ledbetter said.

Mazzola remains free on bond pending sentencing.

In 2010, Ottinger was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a 42-year-old Churchville man who was beaten to death with a hammer-like instrument and then dumped off a bridge into the James River in Bedford County. With no evidence to support the initial theory that Ottinger participated in the man's killing, the charge was dropped and he instead was found guilty of concealing a dead body.

Ottinger was sentenced to one year and four months in prison for helping hide the body. A second man, Christopher Dudley, was convicted of the killing.

Ottinger is still awaiting sentencing in connection with the child abuse case.