RIPLittleBaby
Brooklyn Mother Arrested For Beating 9-Year-Old Daughter To Death Over Missing Tablet
This story stopped me in my tracks as to the amount of anger this woman took out on her child.
On Sunday around 1 p.m police responded to Shemene Cato home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Inside the apartment they found the badly bruised lifeless body of Shemene’s 9-year-old daughter Shalom.
According to the dead girl’s sister, Shalom was “spanked” by her mom and put in time out after a temper tantrum before she was found unresponsive, police said.
Prosecutors said in a complaint that Cato allegedly beat her two daughters over a missing computer tablet, prompting Shalom to flee and hide under the bed.
Cato then lifted the bed and dropped it on her younger daughter’s head, then ignored the girl’s pleas for help as she bled internally, the complaint said.
On Tuesday, Shemene Cato, 48, was arraigned and charged with second-degree murder for brutally beating Shalom Guifarro, 9, and her 13-year-old sister for two hours before fatally injuring Shalom, NY Post reports.
Cato is being held without bond.
Cops showed up at the Crown Heights Apartment after the 13-year-old managed to sneak off and call 911. Police arrived at the apartment around 1 p.m. and found Shalom unconscious and badly bruised inside on the bedroom floor.
“A doctor at the medical examiner’s office determined that Shalom suffered multiple blunt force impact injures about the head and body, resulting in internal bleeding which ultimately caused the death of Shalom,” Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney David Ingle said.
The girl was attempting to escape the attack and crawled under the bed, Pix 11 reports. When Cato tried to pull her out from under the bed, one of the legs broke and the bed fell on the child’s head, prosecutors claim. The girl suffered multiple blunt force injuries to her head, face, and body and died of internal bleeding.
Cato was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge and ordered held without bail by Judge Simiyon Haniff, who also issued an order of protection for the older girl.
“Miss Cato, I noticed your head has been down but I want you to make sure you heard and understand,” Haniff told Cato, who burst into tears in court.
Officials said city child services had not been involved with the family in the past.
Nonetheless, neighbors told The Post that the family could often be heard arguing.
“I heard a lot of screaming and fighting from the apartment,” neighbor Jason Rahimzadeh said Monday. “I heard loud arguments at least 10 times, where they were screaming at the top of their lungs. The family kept to themselves.
“Everyone in the building is so nice and calm, but we all knew that apartment was trouble.”
Bart Hubbuch, who owns the bar near the apartment, said Cato consistently yells at the kids.
“Their mother frequently cussed them out and wouldn’t let them play with the other kids on the block,” said Hubbuch.
Cato works for the city Human Resources Administration, with her union picking up the tab for the lawyer’s legal fees, according to sources.
Cops had visited the apartment 14 times before for domestic violence reports — most involving Cato complaining about alleged harassment by her ex, records show.
Sad.
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