Police in Texas say that a boy aged 12 has been left brain dead and with skin “hanging off the buttocks” after suffering repeated beatings from his dad and his stepmother.

The suspects have been named as Derrick Coles, 32, and Kapri Cheatam, 27, and they are currently behind bars after being arrested for subjecting the former’s 12-year-old son to horrific torture that included spending long hours holding boxes weighing 50 lbs and being beaten for being “disrespectful”.

The incident that led to the couple’s arrest took place in the 7600 block of Wurzbach Road in the city of San Antonio in the southern US state of Texas.

Police officers responded to a 911 call stating that a child had stopped breathing.

Arriving at the scene, first responders found the 12-year-old boy lifeless, and the boy’s father reportedly told the police that this was a result of his son falling while taking a shower.

Medics attempted resuscitation at the scene before the child was taken to the University Hospital. The young boy, named as Danilo Coles, had reportedly sustained “several suspicious injuries”.

Doctors declared him brain dead after noting that there was no brain activity.

Police questioned the boy’s father and stepmother, and the couple allegedly admitted that they had physically abused the child shortly before he passed away.

Coles reportedly told police that his son had moved in with him a short time ago, after he was brought up by his mother in the city of Chicago in the midwestern US state of Illinois.

Coles allegedly said that his son had become “disrespectful” and had been “causing problems”.

The young boy was reportedly made to do push-ups and hold heavy boxes filled with bottles of water for hours as a punishment.

Coles also allegedly admitted that he had “busted” his son’s lip shortly before the boy died.

The stepmother, Cheatom, allegedly told investigators that on the day of his death, the young boy was made to hold up a pair of boxes weighing approximately 50 lbs after he reportedly swore at her.

When he was no longer able to hold the boxes up, he was given smaller boxes, and when he could no longer hold these, he was made to do push-ups. This punishment reportedly lasted between four and five hours.

Then the young boy took a shower, and this is reportedly when he fell, according to Cheatom, which resulted in him sustaining a cut above one of his eyes.

He was then reportedly made to push-ups again. This is when Coles allegedly beat the boy with a belt while he was on the floor in the foetal position.

The doctors reportedly told the police that young Danilo’s injuries were not consistent with him having fallen in the shower.

The young boy reportedly sustained “severe injuries to his buttocks where the skin was hanging off of the buttocks, internal stomach bleeding, and whipping marks on his torso and legs.”

Coles and Cheatom are being held in Bexar County Jail on a USD-150,000 (GBP-111,000) bond and are set to appear before a judge on 9th March.