An 11-year old girl has been arrested and charged with murder after she allegedly beat a 2-month old baby to death in her mother’s Wickliffe home in Ohio, the United States, said police on Monday.
According to Wickliffe Police Chief Randy Ice, the girl’s mother was babysitting her friend’s baby on Thursday night when the incident happened. He said the mother fell asleep at about 3am on the couch, with the infant on one side and her daughter on the other.
Speaking at a news conference, Ice said the mother was woken up an hour later by her daughter, who was holding the badly beaten baby. She immediately called the police and the infant was airlifted to hospital, but she passed away on Friday.
It’s understood the girl took the baby upstairs for 45 minutes before she woke her mother up.
An autopsy later revealed the baby was beaten to death. She sustained serious injuries to her brain, liver, spleen and kidney, said Ice.
“We’re trying to figure out what would motivate someone to do something like that,” said Ice. “And so far we haven’t come up with an answer.”
He said he was considering offering counselling for the police officers who responded to the scene.
“We’re having a hard time getting our head around this,” said Ice. “You don’t see something like this, ever.”
The 11-year old girl was ordered to undergo a mental competency exam when she appeared in a juvenile court yesterday. She reportedly sat beside her mother in leg shackles.
According to Ohio law, as the girl is younger than 14, she cannot be tried as an adult. She could however, be sentenced to a state department of youth services facility until she is 21-years old.
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