While Mom Goes Clubbing, 8-Year-Old ‘Babysitter’ Allegedly Kills 1-Year-Old

Birmingham Police Department
Birmingham Police Department

An Alabama woman stands charged with manslaughter after her one-year-old daughter was beaten to death by an eight-year-old boy who was forced to babysit the child while the woman went out nightclubbing, police say.

Birmingham police said that the eight-year-old was the babysitter for half a dozen children, while his mom and the woman arrested went out clubbing. According to the boy’s six-year-old sister, one-year-old Kelci Devine Lewis was beaten to death by the boy because she wouldn’t stop crying.

26-year-old Katerra Lewis, the one-year-old’s mother, was arrested and charged with manslaughter, police spokesman Sean Edwards said on November 11.

The young boy was charged with murder and is currently in the custody of child services.

“This is by far one of the saddest cases that I have witnessed and been a part of since I became a police officer,” Edwards said. “This type of irresponsibility on behalf of a parent is totally unacceptable.”

The boy’s mother has not been charged nor identified, and his case will be handled through family court, authorities said. But there is no minimum age for murder charges.

“There are just too many deep rooted issues in this horrific crime,” Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper said on Tuesday. “It’s extremely troubling from so many different angles and there are no law enforcement answers to prevent it.”

Lewis was staying in the home where her daughter died while waiting for Section 8 Housing.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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