A 43-year-old Texas mother, Zaikiya Duncan, will potentially spend the rest of her life in prison for torturing her twin children. Reportedly, she ordered restraining equipment from Amazon to keep them from escaping the hell they were subjected to.
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As reported by Law & Crime, Duncan was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury. She will be sentenced on Monday, October 13, and she faces a maximum sentence of life with parole.
Her then-boyfriend, Jova Terell, pleaded guilty to endangering a child in 2024 and received an 18-month sentence.
Court documents obtained by the outlet detailed that the investigation began on October 18, 2022. Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies responded to a Great Pines Drive after a welfare check was requested for two 16-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.
Upon arrival, HCSO deputies learned that the twins had escaped from their mother and knocked on the caller’s door. They were found “covered in bruises,” a probable cause affidavit said, and they were partially clothed, barefoot, and starving.
“When they came inside, they were like, ‘We are not here to hurt you,” the caller told KVII. “She was shaking with her handcuffs. She was like, ‘We are looking for help. We just need help. We just broke out of our handcuffs. Our mom had us handcuffed in the laundry room.'”
In particular, deputies observed injuries on the twins’ wrists, which were consistent with “being restrained with handcuffs.”
Horrifying Details
Then, the teenage victims shared with the deputies the extent of the horrors they endured at the hands of their mother. Testimony cited by the Houston Chronicle detailed that the siblings were confined for months to a laundry room, handcuffed to a dolly while only wearing trash bags.
The children added that the restraining equipment their mother used, including the handcuffs, was ordered by her on Amazon, Law & Crime reported.
The victims had very limited access to a bathroom, leading to them often soiling themselves. On one occasion, Zaikiya Duncan punished them by spraying them with oven cleaner and tightening their handcuffs. Their crime? They had escaped their restraints and were found eating scraps of food from the neighbors’ garbage cans.
At one point, according to Duncan’s son, their mother told them to “stop calling her mom.” Heartbreakingly, the son also said he believed Duncan hated them.
While in court, the female teen described their escape. Then, she testified that, after escaping the laundry room, they had found the key to their handcuffs in their mother’s bag. Her brother stashed it beneath his tongue overnight, and they were able to escape their torture.
After their escape, Duncan and Terell escaped with the twins’ siblings. They were then located and arrested in Louisiana.