Cops: Mom Beat, Choked Daughter Over Incorrect Bible Verses

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. (AP/KDKA) - Police say a Pennsylvania woman severely beat her daughter, tried to strangle her and kicked her out of the house for incorrectly reciting Bible verses.

Pennlive.com reports 41-year-old Rhonda Kemp Shoffner, of Middletown, faces charges including aggravated assault, strangulation and terroristic threats over the March 14 incident.

Shoffner had reportedly been drunk for three days straight when the incident occurred.

Middletown police say the victim, who is under 13, was forced to kneel on the bathroom floor and repeat Bible verses.

The daughter was asked, "What did God tell the man to do with his son?"

When the girl said she didn't know, Shoffner said "God told the man to kill his son."

Rather than repeating this correctly, the victim said, "God said to forgive his son," and the mother grabbed the girl by the hair and slammed her head into the wall, police said.

The woman repeated this process of asking her daughter to repeat the verses. Each time the girl got the answer wrong, police say her head was slammed into the wall.

The victim's head was hurled into the wall at least five times.

They allege she then told the child she was going to "kill" her and bit her and attempted to strangle her.

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Police say the girl fought off Shoffner, who told her to leave and never return.

They say the girl called her father, who drove her to a police station.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)