Eight-year old charged with murder of one-year old toddler

An eight-year-old boy has been charged with murder in Alabama after a one-year-old left in his care was beaten to death, the Guardian reports.

The toddler’s mother, 26-year-old Katerra Lewis, has also been charged with manslaughter after leaving her daughter Kelci in the care of a group of children who were all younger than nine.

The police said that on 11th October, Lewis and her friend left home to go to a club at around 11.30pm and returned at around 2am, but did not check on Kelci until the following morning.

The Guardian reports that police spokesman Sean Edwards said the police department had obtained information from the other children who witnessed the beating and suggested that the eight-year-old had become “extremely agitated” when Kelci would not stop crying.

The police were reportedly called at 10am and arrived to find the girl dead in her crib, and a coroner declared the cause of death to be severe trauma to the head and organs.

The eight-year-old is currently in the custody of the department of human resources, and will be tried in family court, while Lewis has been released on a $15,000 bond.

A candlelight vigil for Kelci was held on the 20th October.