A four-year-old boy from Pennsylvania, U.S., was beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend for spilling his breakfast.
Lisa Smith, 19, and her boyfriend Keiff King, 26, of Willow Grove, who were arrested Tuesday night, face charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and other crimes in connection with the death of their son, Tahjir.
After the child admitted spilling his breakfast, Smith and King disciplined Tahjir by punching him in the back of the head, before stripping him naked from the waist down and taking turns smacking his buttocks with a sandal.
According to Smith’s statement to the police, he tried to revive Tahjir after he urinated on himself and became unresponsive from the beatings.
“I placed him in the shower and blasted him with cold and hot water,” Smith told police.
The little boy was “severely punished and beaten and then burned in a shower,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said.
Smith put clothes on her son and the couple took the child outside where they called 911 and fabricated a story about why the boy wasn’t responsive.
Police said the home was filthy, and crawling with roaches. The coroner also said the child had previous injuries including broken ribs.
“Unfortunately, it looks like the child didn’t go through this the first time last night,” Steele said. “It’s gonna be our time to stand up for a child who can’t speak for himself anymore.”
The couple could face a murder charge depending what the final autopsy results reveal, the DA said.
King and Smith were being held on a $500,000 bail each, and have a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 31.
Source : Punch
