HENRY COUNTY, Ind. — Joseph Bonar of New Castle is facing five counts of domestic battery with injury and five counts of neglect of a dependent for punishing his girlfriend's children by shooting them with a BB gun.
Police were called after one of the children told a middle school nurse that Bonar was shooting her and her siblings. The nurse called authorities and said the girl had bruises on her feet and back in different stages of healing.
The children's mother, Maresa Kunze, allegedly told police that Bonar doesn't discipline the children but verbally enforces her rules. She claimed Bonar doesn't shoot the children, but the children play with airsoft guns and shoot each other.
During questioning, one child claimed she wasn't shot very often because she is mostly good, but that she saw Bonar and her mother shoot three of the other children. Another child said they were not shot as punishment. However, after the interview, a DCS worker alleges they heard the child tell his mother that he told them what she wanted them to say. Several of the children also denied being punished with BB guns and claimed their sibling that reported it to the school nurse was lying.
Investigators reviewed images of the injuries to the children and found marks to the children's feet, ankles, arms, chests and backs.
Police said, during a follow up interview with Kunze, that she initially denied the children were punished with BB guns, but then admitted it was used "when the kids were acting out and extremely out of line." She allegedly told investigators she had intervened at times when she felt Bonar was going overboard with shooting the children. Court documents allege Kunze told investigators she lied because she was afraid of losing her children and Bonar.
During questioning, Bonar also allegedly admitted to shooting the children as punishment. Police said Bonar told them he got no enjoyment out of shooting the children, but he continued to do it as punishment.
After the interviews, Bonar and Kunze were arrested. Kunze is also facing five counts of domestic battery with injury and five counts of neglect of a dependent.
The five children, between 5 and 12 years old, were placed with the Indiana Department of Child Services.
For more information on reporting child abuse in Indiana, click here.