UPDATE
Feb. 9, 2022
Authorities announced that they’ve also charged the children’s aunt and caregiver Yolanda Denise Coale, 53, with aggravated child abuse of a child under the age of six. She is being held on $150,000 bond, according to county filings, Fox News reported.
Feb. 8, 2022
MOBILE, Ala. — An Alabama girl, 9, has been charged with assault in relation to her younger brother’s death after authorities say she beat him with a broomstick.
Officers responded to a residence in Mobile on Thursday. Upon arrival, they discovered the 4-year-old boy unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office confirmed the charge Monday, U.S. News reported.
Yolanda Coale is the boy’s aunt and legal guardian. According to court records, she claims she awoke to the sound of the children screaming. She found the girl hitting her brother with a broom.
Court documents say the girl “did willfully torture, willfully abuse and cruelly beat” the boy, according to WPMI-TV.
Coale, 53, was taken into custody last week on the charge of aggravated child abuse. Her bond was set at $150,000. It wasn’t immediately clear if CPS played a role in the investigation.
The boy reportedly had other bruises on his body that were reportedly indicative of long-term abuse, according to U.S. News.
An autopsy will determine the child’s cause of death.
