MAN BOUND OVER IN ABUSE CASE

Eric Schwepker's 12-year-old son did not make eye contact with Schwepker when the boy testified Monday against Schwepker at a probable-cause hearing in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

The boy told Circuit Judge Gary Kamp that in January, Schwepker ordered the boy to take off his left shoe and sock and to place his foot on a coffee table.

Then, the boy said, Schwepker struck three of his toeswith a claw hammer.

Schwepker, 30, has been charged with three felony counts of child abuse and one count of domestic assault, punishable by a maximum sentence of 28 years.

The boy looked determined to get through the recollections, his voice warbling only twice in the more than 15 minutes of testimony -- once when he described the alleged January beating that also included a belt, a wooden dowel, and an aluminum baseball bat, and a second time when he said he still loved his father.

Kamp has scheduled a Monday arraignment for Schwepker.

Hammer used

Assistant prosecuting attorney Scott Lipke asked the boy why his father had ordered him to remove only one shoe and sock.

The boy replied that his father had indicated "he was going to save it for if I did anything else wrong."

The boy testified the beating was triggered by his desire to spend the night at his grandmother's house.

The boy said that days later, on Feb. 2, his father backhanded him in the jaw and ordered him out of the house.

It was while walking along a county road that the boy, who reported he was spitting blood because he had bit his tongue during the impact, was picked up by a motorist and turned over to police.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan said the boy's maternal grandmother, Karen Bowers, had filed a child abuse report with the sheriff's department in April 1996. No charges were filed.

Schwepker's counsel didn't call any defense witnesses.

The boy's stepmother, Jennifer Schwepker, 23, is scheduled to appear on March 22 on charges of domestic assault, child abuse and child endangerment.

Other court action

Also in court Monday, Douglas Aubuchon, 36, of Cape Girardeau County, pleaded not guilty to felony child abuse charges.

Sheriff's investigators said Aubuchon's daughter claims he choked her, hit her on the head and forced her to swallow chewing tobacco because he thought she had stolen his marijuana.

Aubuchon' will appear in court March 26.

Her mother, Maria Harris, 33, was also arrested in the case.

Both Aubuchon and Harris are free on $15,000 bonds.