SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — Preliminary examinations have been pushed back for a man and his mother charged with torture and child abuse after authorities said plumber’s tape was used to keep an 11-year-old boy restrained for several hours at a time at a southwestern Michigan home.

The hearings were scheduled to start Monday in Seventh District Court in South Haven to determine if there’s enough evidence for trial for 28-year-old Randall Hamilton and 46-year-old Peggy Hamilton.

Conferences are scheduled Sept. 29 with new preliminary examination dates set for Oct. 1. They’re being held on $1 million bonds.

Deputies found the malnourished boy Aug. 26 as he walked along a Van Buren County road. The boy said he ran away from his Geneva Township home after being physically abused.

Randall Hamilton is the boy’s mother’s boyfriend.

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