A woman was sentenced for the brutal death of a 3-year-old boy.
On June 29, 2011, police were called to a West Philly home at Chestnut and 47th Street for a report of a little boy falling out of a window. When they arrived they found 3-year-old Jacquinn Brewton unconscious inside the rooming house.
The boy's godmother Nadera Batson told police the boy had fallen down the stairs. The child was taken to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where he remained for two weeks until he was pronounced dead. Investigators say he died from a pancreatic laceration caused by blows to his stomach that had the force of a car crash.
"The little boy took all the pain that he could, and he couldn't take it any more and he succumbed to his injuries," said Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark.
Batson, who had taken the boy in after his mother was unable to care for him, spoke to NBC10 a day after she was questioned by police.
"I'm devastated that it's not my child, first of all, and it happened in my care. I'm really feeling real bad about this situation," she said.
After an investigation however, officials determined that the boy's injuries were not consistent with a fall and ruled the death a homicide. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the body, specifically the spleen, according to Capt. Clark.
Police say the boy had been abused for several months by Batson and her boyfriend, Marcus King.
"Numerous assaults to the body, by fists, through kicks and also some type of unidentified object," said Clark. "Also, some numerous burns to his legs, feet and buttocks from a blowtorch that the family had."
Over a 3-month period, Batson beat the child all over his body and even used a blow torch(pictured) to punish him for not being able to use the toilet. Batson also burned the child's feet by pouring hot liquid over him, causing him to lose the ability to walk.
Both Batson and King were arrested and charged with murder. Batson was eventually convicted for third degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, endangerment of the welfare of a child and possession of an instrument of crime(blowtorch).
On Tuesday she was sentenced to 28 1/2 to 57 years in prison.
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