Peoria prosecutors laid out in court on Thursday evidence of what they described as a “violent, brutal and continuous” attack on a 21-month-old child who was allegedly beaten to death by his mother.
Peoria County prosecutors argued during Kaleeyah E. Sprinkle’s detention hearing that the 24-year-old mother of twins had brutally beaten both of her children, leading to the death of one and the severe injury of another.
After hearing the prosecutors’ case, Judge Paul Bauer ordered that Sprinkle be held in Peoria County Jail pending her jury trial, which is now set for July 14.
The evidence laid out in court on Thursday by prosecutors painted a harrowing picture of the alleged beatings the 21-month-old twin children, Amiri and Amara Robinson, purportedly suffered at the hands of their mother.
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Amiri, who died from blunt force trauma wounds on May 9, had severe brain damage, two healing pelvis fractures, lacerations on his liver and spleen as well severe bruising and swelling all over his body at the time of his death, according to prosecutors and findings by the Peoria County coroner. The child also had bleeding, abrasions and scratching on his legs and anus.
Sprinkle told Peoria police officers at the time of her arrest that Amiri’s injuries stemmed from a fall off a couch and, as prosecutors noted, oddly said the bruising must have spread across his body after the fall.
On May 6, Sprinkle and another man charged in the case, Zaxton Johnson, drove Amiri to a Peoria fire station to seek help attention for his injuries. Members of the Peoria Fire Department notified police when the child arrived at the fire station and the infant was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries three days later.
Police on May 6 took Sprinkle into custody and began searching for Amara, the twin sister. She was eventually found underneath a blanket in the backseat of a vehicle being driven by Johnson, a convicted sex offender.
Police body camera footage shown in court on Thursday showed an officer opening the back door of the vehicle to find Amara crying and struggling underneath a blanket in the backseat. She was not wearing a seatbelt or in a car seat.
When the toddler emerged from under the blanket, she was crying and lunged into the officer’s arms. Prosecutors said in court the child was “terrified.”
The video footage showed that Amara had significant swelling and bruising on the side of her face.
Prosecutors seemed shocked in court that Sprinkle left her child with a registered sex offender for nearly an hour unsupervised. According to prosecutors, Johnson was Sprinkle’s drug dealer and would spend time at her home to sell her cannabis.
Sprinkle’s attorney tried to cast doubt in court on Thursday that her client was the one who killed Amiri and instead tried to point at Johnson as a possible suspect in the murder, noting his extensive criminal history, which includes aggravated battery charges and a conviction for sexually assaulting a child under the age of nine.
Ultimately, the defense’s argument was moot and Bauer ordered Sprinkle to be held in jail, saying there was enough evidence presented to indicate that she could have facilitated Amiri’s death.
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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘Violent,’ ‘brutal’ beatings led to child’s death, Peoria prosecutors say