Piqua man accused of heating knife to burn daughter facing felony child abuse charge

PIQUA — A Piqua man is accused of heating up a knife on a stove and using it to burn his daughter’s face inside an apartment on Wood Street, according to a Piqua police report.

Selemani Said, 38, is currently being held in the Miami County Jail on a $250,000 bond after he pleaded not guilty to felony child abuse. He also faces a domestic violence charge.

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Officers responded to Said’s apartment Feb. 1 after multiple people became concerned about an 8 or 9 year-old girl running from her apartment with her father pulling her arm aggressively and the man telling the child he was going to kill her, according to a Piqua police report.

Multiple people told police once they got to the apartment that they were aware of reports of violence Said had reportedly been involved with previously.

Piqua police were able to interview the girl once she was away from Said and she told police “she was scared for her life.” She said she was confronted about a video where she linked arms with a boy at a birthday party, the report read.

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The girl said about a month ago Said had “heated a knife on the stove and burnt her face with it, showing (the police officer) a red mark on her face,” the report read.

The girl told police Said cut another person’s head off previously, but it was found to be self-defense.

“Tonight she told me he referenced to kill her and cut her head off like that person,” police wrote in the report.

Said also has a pending felonious assault case out of Columbus, where on Oct. 10 Said was accused of running at three men and firing his gun at them in the parking lot of the Columbus Grand Hotel & Center on East Dublin Granville Road, according to Franklin County Court Records.

Said was traced back to a hotel room at the location, where police ended up finding him and a black handgun in the hotel room, court records read.

Miami County Children’s Services was contacted after Said’s most recent arrest to assist with custodial arrangements for the victim in the Piqua case.

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