Boy, 12, accused of beating crying toddler to death with baseball bat

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy has been charged with murder after allegedly beating a toddler to death with a baseball bat because she was crying while he was trying to watch television, US authorities said.

The boy was arrested in Florida on Saturday on first-degree murder charges, Lauderhill police spokesman Lieutenant Mike Cochran said.

He appeared in juvenile court yesterday and remained in custody, but it was not clear if anyone else would be charged in the girl’s death.

Mr Cochran said the boy confessed to authorities that he was home alone on Friday baby-sitting a 10-year-old and the 17-month-old girl and became angry when the toddler began to cry. The relationship between the three was not clear.

At some point, an adult called emergency services.

The girl, Shaloh Joseph, was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead of blunt force trauma to the head, Mr Cochran said.

The Miami Herald identified the boy’s mother as Guerla Joseph. The case is not the first in Florida where a boy so young has been charged in the death of a child.

Lionel Tate was 12 when he beat and stomped to death a playmate half his age. At the time, Tate was the youngest person in modern US history to receive a life prison sentence.

His lawyers initially said he accidentally killed six-year-old Tiffany Eunick in 1999 while imitating pro wrestling moves.

Tate was convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, but the conviction was thrown out in 2004, and Tate pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.