Alabama 8-year-old charged with murder in toddler’s beating

ATLANTA — An eight-year-old boy has been charged with murder in Birmingham, Alabama, where the police said yesterday (Nov 10) that he had “viciously attacked” a toddler whose mother had left children alone while she visited one of the city’s nightclubs.

The authorities announced their intention to prosecute the boy, who was not identified, nearly a month after the death of one-year-old Kelci Lewis. The child was found unresponsive on Oct 11, and a police spokesman said yesterday that investigators believed the older boy had become violent because the toddler would not stop crying.

“The eight-year-old just recklessly, viciously dealt with the one-year-old,” the spokesman, Lieutenant Sean Edwards, said at a news conference yesterday, one day after the girl’s mother surrendered to the authorities and was charged with manslaughter.

Lieutenant Edwards said that the mother, Katerra M Lewis, and a friend had left the home where they were staying late on Oct 10. Six children, none of them older than eight, remained at the home, and while Lewis was away, the lieutenant said, her daughter began to cry.

Soon, the police said, the boy began to beat the girl, to whom he was not related. She was found and pronounced dead the next morning, more than eight hours after investigators believe Lewis returned to the home. The police said the girl had suffered “severe head trauma, as well as major internal organ damage”.

The Jefferson County district attorney’s office declined to comment yesterday, and Lewis could not be reached.

Lewis was released from jail on Monday after posting a US$15,000 (S$21,300) bond, according to a Sheriff’s Office record. She was held, the agency said, for less than 90 minutes.

Lieutenant Edwards said officials thought that the charge against Lewis might signal to other parents that they could be prosecuted in similar cases.

“Most mothers that I know would have never done something like this,” he said, “but it definitely sends the message that this type of behaviour, this type of irresponsibility on behalf of a parent is totally unacceptable.”

Lieutenant Edwards said the Alabama Department of Human Resources had taken custody of the boy; the details of his case are expected to remain confidential.

It is unusual, but not unprecedented, for children to face serious charges in the deaths of other children. Last month, the Tennessee authorities filed a first-degree murder charge against an 11-year-old boy in connection with the killing of his neighbour, who was eight.

The charges against Lewis and the boy were the subject of wide attention in Birmingham, a city of grit and crime, but also a place that officials said had never before prosecuted such a young child for murder.

“We’re still trying to process it as it relates to the suspect,” said Lieutenant Edwards, who added, “It’s one of those cases where it leaves everybody a little puzzled.” THE NEW YORK TIMES