‘The worst thing that can happen to a child’: Parents charged in death of 4-year-old girl

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) - Parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after allegedly being abused have been charged in connection to her death, according to authorities in Richland County, South Carolina.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department was contacted after Hope Fields, 4, was admitted to Prisma Health Hospital with severe burn marks and injuries.

Hope’s parents, Wilbur Fields, 34, and Fifi Hill-Fields, 32, punished their daughter for soiling her pants by submerging her in scalding water Thursday evening, according to Sheriff Leon Lott.

Lott says Hope suffered for about 24 hours before being admitted to the hospital.

“Just two seconds of 150 degrees Fahrenheit can severely injure someone,” Coroner Naida Rutherford said.

After being admitted to the hospital, Hope was put on life support. She passed away on Sunday after two days of intensive care. Her parents were not there when she passed away, according to Lott.

Hope’s death was ruled a homicide, and Fields and Hill-Fields were arrested and charged with homicide by child abuse and two counts of neglect by legal custodians.

“This was not accidental. This was intentional,” Lott said. “To have your own parents do that to you is the worst thing that can happen to a child.”

The couple’s three other children, ranging in age from 5 months to 10 years old, have been put in protective custody.

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