TACOMA, Wash. -- The trial for a woman accused of beating, torturing and denying food to her step-grandson for years started Monday, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Loni Venegas and her husband took in her 6-year-old step-grandson, Jamil Venegas, after his mother was killed in a traffic accident in 2001.

Prosecutors said the boy, now 12 years old, lived a hellish life of abuse, was forced to work and was left scarred by beatings Venegas dealt out each time she was angered.

“She stomped his head while he was on that floor and she stomped him repeatedly, so hard that he split his chin open,” said Pierce County deputy prosecutor Sunny Ko.

During the first day of trial, Jamil’s aunt, 15-year-old Alyson Clairmont, testified that she saw Venegas single out Jamil and forced him to do nearly all the household chores at the Tacoma home where Venegas lived with her husband, Remil, who is Jamil's biological grandfather.

Clairmont broke down as she described one day when Jamil accidentally vacuumed up cat feces and Venegas became furious.

“She picked up the cat feces with a napkin and put his face in it,” said Clairmont.

According to official court documents, Venegas used a fork to cut the backs of the boy’s legs and thighs, and then poured vinegar on the wounds while he stood in the bathtub. Documents said she allegedly beat the bottoms of his feet with bamboo sticks and choked him until he nearly passed out.

Venegas' defense attorney said the allegations are based on hysteria created by the media after Jamil reported the alleged abuse to Pierce County sheriff's deputies last summer.

Jamil’s grandfather, Remil Venegas, is charged with assault of a child. His trial is scheduled to begin in June.