U.S. Parents Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison for Torturing Adopted Russian Son

A U.S. court has sentenced an American couple who abused their adopted 4-year-old handicapped son from Russia to four and two months in jail respectively, prosecutors said.

Jane Cochran, 43, from Alfred (ME) was charged with second-degree assault in February after allegedly beating up and even cutting off part of the boy’s ear with a pair of scissors in summer 2005, RIA Novosti reports. The foster mother said she had become infuriated because the boy could not say his prayers in English.

Her husband, Timothy Cochran, 48, was accused of endangering the child and not reporting the domestic violence, prosecutors said.

The boy is now well and with another family with whom he might live after the trial, said Russian Consul in the U.S. Dmitry Zavorin.

The couple, who have three natural children already, adopted the boy, Kuzma, from Taganrog in southern Russia.