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Boy charged with murder for beating crying baby to death
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AN 8-year-old boy beat a baby girl to death to stop her crying while her mother was out partying at a nightclub, US police said on Wednesday, charging him with murder.
The boy was one of several children left alone for hours in a Birmingham, Alabama home last month, in what experts said was a rare case of a child so young being prosecuted.
“Since becoming a police officer over 22 years ago, this is by far one of the saddest cases I have witnessed in my career,” Birmingham police spokesman Lieutenant Sean Edwards said.
The incident happened at the home of a friend of the baby’s mother, whom police have identified as 26-year-old Katerra Lewis.
She has been charged with manslaughter over what Edwards called “reckless” actions.
Police said Lewis left her 1-year-old, Kelci, together with several children aged 2 to 8, while she and her friend went out clubbing.
The children were left unsupervised while Lewis and the friend were gone between 11pm and 2am.
“It is believed that while the mother and friend were at the club, the 8-year-old viciously attacked the 1-year-old because the 1-year-old would not stop crying,” police said in a statement.
“The 1-year-old suffered from severe head trauma as well as major internal organ damage which ultimately led to her death.”
The mother told police on the morning of October 11, that she found the baby unresponsive.
The girl was treated at the scene by first responders and was later pronounced dead at a children’s hospital.
“This type of behavior, this type of irresponsibility on behalf of a parent is totally unacceptable,” Edwards said of Lewis.
“No education, no school, no degree, no training can really prepare you for an 8-year-old committing a heinous crime like this.”
The mother was released on US$15,000 bail. The Department of Human Resources said it had no prior complaints concerning Lewis or her daughter.
The DHR is holding the boy and won’t release his name.
The age at which minors can be held criminally accountable varies from state to state in the US, but Alabama has no set minimum age for prosecution in juvenile court.
“It is very, very unusual for somebody as young as eight to be prosecuted,” Tobie Smith, a lawyer specializing in the defense of minors, said.
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