A Bradford pair are in McKean County Jail for allegedly abusing three children to the point where two of the children thought they would be killed before reaching the age of 16.

Joseph G.P. Smith, 43, and Jaimie Lee Case, 32, both of 153 Main St., room 318, are both charged with two counts of strangulation, second-degree felonies; and four counts of simple assault, two of which were first-degree misdemeanors and two of which were second-degree misdemeanors. Case is also charged with endangering the welfare of children, a third-degree felony.

According to the criminal complaint, over a period of a year, Smith and Case punched, kicked, hit, strangled and stomped on the children, ages 10 to 13.

The children were interviewed by the Children’s Advocacy Center in Smethport, and each told a similar story. The girl described a time when she was helping the two boys clean their room when Smith came up behind her and grabbed her around the throat. She told interviewers she passed out, and the other two had to wake her up. She said she felt paralyzed, and couldn’t move her legs for awhile, the complaint stated.

She described two times that Case choked her until she passed out. She also told of times when Case would beat her with a metal pole, her fists and her feet, and said Case would tell her she wished the children were dead.

The other two children told the interviewer that the abuse always began with the girl child. The children said they would be doing school work on their computer when Smith would hit, punch and kick them. One child told the interviewer that Case would hit and kick them, and that if he fell on the floor, she would “stomp on his head when he tried to get up,” the complaint stated.

One child told the interviewer “he can take a lot of pain but not this, and he wants it to stop,” according to the complaint.

Smith and Case were both arraigned before District Judge Dom Cercone and remanded to jail in lieu of $50,000 each. Preliminary hearings for both are scheduled for Feb. 24 before Cercone.