(AP) -- EASLEY, S.C.-- A South Carolina judge has denied bond for a father charged with homicide by child abuse after authorities say he beat his 7-year-old son with a mop handle, then didn't call for help until his son had been dead for at least two hours.
WSPA-TV reports that an Anderson County judge made the decision in a bond hearing Saturday morning for James Dickerson Jr. Deputies say Dickerson has also been charged with unlawful conduct toward a child after hitting his 5-year-old son with the same handle. That boy is in protective custody.
Deputy coroner Don McCown says Jeremy Dickerson had been dead for at least two hours when his father called paramedics to his Easley home Friday morning.
Dickerson is being held in the Anderson County jail.
Officials did not know if he had an attorney.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH