Father Accused of Blinding His 3-Month-Old Son

A 21-year-old Ventura area man was arrested early Friday on suspicion of child abuse for either knocking or shaking his 3-month-old son so hard that the child may be permanently blind, officials said.

Don Ray Boyd, who had been watching his son Jacob while his girlfriend was at work, was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail in Ventura County Jail. He was arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The baby, who was airlifted to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, was in critical condition with serious head injuries in the hospital’s intensive care unit, hospital spokeswoman Maria Iacobo said.

The baby’s retinas apparently detached from his eyes, and Ventura County doctors said early Friday that they believe that the blindness may be permanent, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Dee Bryce. Doctors at Childrens Hospital are still doing tests and calling in eye specialists, Bryce said.

Boyd, who works as a laborer for a Ventura hauling company, had been watching the baby for nine hours Thursday while his girlfriend, Cynthia Payne, 20, was working at a McDonald’s restaurant, friends and authorities said.

The couple was house-sitting in the 5200 block of Norway Drive in an unincorporated area just north of Ventura for Boyd’s employer, Terry Kessler, who was on vacation.

When Payne returned from work at 6 p.m., she discovered that the child was very lethargic, almost in a semi-coma, Bryce said. The baby’s eyes were “going every which way,” he said.

Recognizing the baby was seriously ill, Payne, who had no car, asked a neighbor to take her and the baby to the hospital, Bryce said. They arrived at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura about 8 p.m., he said.

After examining the child and talking to Payne, doctors determined that the injury was a result of child abuse and the Sheriff’s Department was notified, Bryce said.

The baby was airlifted to Childrens Hospital, which was judged to have the best facilities for treating his condition, Boyd said. Payne followed the baby to Los Angeles by car.

Boyd was still at Kessler’s house when officials arrived to arrest him at 1:50 a.m. Boyd has no criminal record, Bryce said.

Kessler and his wife, Sue, had returned from their weeklong vacation in Hawaii about 11 p.m. Thursday, and Boyd told them that he was concerned about the baby, Kessler said.

Boyd told Kessler that he thought the baby seemed sleepy and when Payne returned home they could not wake the baby up, Kessler said.

Kessler said Boyd told him that he did not know how the injuries had happened. Boyd told Kessler that the only thing he could imagine was that he had turned over in bed and hit the child while he was napping, Kessler said.

Kessler, who said he did not realize the child was so seriously injured, said he sat up and talked to Boyd for an hour, trying to calm him. About 20 minutes after they went to sleep, they were awakened by sheriff’s deputies who arrested Boyd, Kessler said.

“It was a big shock,” Kessler said. “The last think I dreamed of was that Donny would be suspected of hurting the child.”

Kessler described Boyd as a gentle person whom he has never heard raise his voice. He has employed Boyd as a laborer for seven months in his Ventura-based hauling business. He said he hired Boyd at the behest of Boyd’s father, a friend who died last year.

Kessler said he had spoken with Payne Friday morning. She was extremely upset and said at the very best the child will be blind, Kessler said.

Residents along Bard Lane, the nearby neighborhood where Boyd and Payne normally live, were shocked by news of the baby’s injuries.

Many of them had baby-sat the red-haired infant, who was cutting two bottom teeth.

Neighbors said Payne was an exceptionally organized, good mother. She had moved a month ago into a motor home parked on Boyd’s mother’s property, said Vanessa Burdett, who has lived next door to the Boyd family for eight years.

Boyd moved from Oxnard into the motor home shortly after his girlfriend did. The couple was engaged to be married next month, Burdett said.

Boyd had told Burdett that he was abused as a child, she said. She described him as a proud father, excitedly sharing the news of his girlfriend’s pregnancy and later parading the baby around the neighborhood to show him off.

Burdett, who sometimes baby-sat the child, said she had never seen any marks on the baby.