Parents come face to face with daycare owner charged with abusing their son

OLATHE, KAN. (WDAF) -- A former Shawnee daycare owner accused of abusing a child in her care appeared before a Johnson County judge Friday.

The victim is too young to talk, so this case took a while for investigators to put together. But Katherine Konon is now accused of aggravated battery for abusing an infant she was supposed to protect.

Konon left court without comment after pleading not guilty to abusing 6-month-old Glen Braun at her Shawnee home daycare in June.

"For me it was extremely hard to be in the same place as her," said Glen's father Brett Braun after court. "It is the start of a long, long process."

What Braun calls a long process started on an otherwise normal June afternoon when Sarah Braun picked up her daughter and son from Konon's home.

When she walked in, Braun said Konon was holding her son Glen with vomit all over him.

The child had gotten sick at daycare, but why prosecutors allege, Braun would have never imagined.

Glen continued getting sick. His mom took the child home home and cleaned him up before she noticed red marks on his head in the shape of a hand print.

Baby Glen ended up at Children's Mercy Hospital where doctors noted the boy was abused, suffering from a brain bleed.

Three months after the alleged abuse, Konon has been charged with aggravated battery.

"Glen isn't old enough to speak for himself, and we are going to be his voice and his eyes," Sarah Braun said. "We are going to be every step of they way to see her be accountable, held accountable."