Overview
- Police say the incident occurred Saturday morning at the Thornton’s on South 7th Street when bystanders saw a woman repeatedly strike her 6‑year‑old child and the child ran back into the store for safety.
- Officers reviewed store surveillance that they say shows the woman making multiple striking motions against the child while witnesses stopped her from leaving the scene.
- The woman, identified in arrest reports as 40‑year‑old Noella Uwimana, told police she hit the child after the child took and ate a candy bar and that she had paid for the candy bar before the assault.
- Police observed visible injuries and the child was taken to a hospital for evaluation; Uwimana was arrested and charged with first‑degree assault (domestic violence) and first‑degree criminal abuse of a child under 12, and a judge set bond at $75,000.
- Uwimana appeared in court Monday for arraignment and the case will proceed through the Louisville court system with surveillance footage and witness statements expected to be key evidence in the next steps.