Police say he beat the infant because he was jealous and to stop her from crying.
By Vickie Chachere The Associated Press Posted
June 2 2005
TAMPA --
A 7-year-old boy fatally beat his baby half-sister with his fists, feet and a two-by-four because he was jealous of the attention she was receiving and because she wouldn't stop crying, police said Wednesday.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office is trying to decide whether to file charges against the boy in the attack that rattled even veteran homicide detectives.
The unidentified boy was not taken into custody and is living with his mother in Lakeland while prosecutors make their decision. The attack occurred May 22 at the home of the boy's father in Tampa.
Seven-month-old Jayza Laney Simms was dead on arrival at St. Joseph's Hospital, where her parents rushed her. Police declined to release the names of the boy or his parents, who are witnesses.
Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said detectives began focusing on the boy after witnesses were able to vouch for the parents not having been alone with the baby at the time of the attack. Detectives confronted the boy with the evidence, and a week after his sister died, he confessed to killing her, McElroy said.
"The veteran detectives who worked on this case have never seen a case with someone as young as a 7-year-old show so much violence and so little remorse," McElroy said. "The only explanation he gave is he wanted her to stop crying."
Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors were just beginning to review the case and the complex legal issues that might present themselves in bringing charges against a child.
"This is the first time we have dealt with a 7-year-old accused of such a violent crime," Bondi said.
The boy had been visiting his father, who lived with his girlfriend and their two daughters, police said. A second child was also in the house at the time of the attack but was not harmed.
Police said the adults were outside with neighbors when the boy came to them about midnight and said the baby was bleeding. They found the girl with a bloody nose and said she wasn't breathing.
Initially, the boy told detectives he dropped the baby but later blamed other family members for hurting her before telling them what he had done, McElroy said.
The boy told detectives he had kicked, punched and then hit his half-sister with a two-by-four piece of wood that was found in the home, they said.
The father and his girlfriend told detectives the boy had been jealous of his half-sisters, but not to the point that they were concerned about the girls' safety, police said.
"The only person who was alone with the child was the 7-year-old," McElroy said. "They [the father and his girlfriend] didn't want to believe the 7-year-old had done it."
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