I found this case on the CNN.com website. This article caught my attention immediately when I read, "11 year old baby sitter charged in death of 2 year old." The 11 year old's name was not given, but the 2 year old in which she is charged with the death of is Zyda White. The baby sitter was watching after Zyda Saturday night while Zyda's mother, Ashlea Collier, went out for a bit. The baby sitter is the daughter of one of Ashlea's co-workers. When Ashlea returned to pick up her daughter late Saurday night Zyda's eyes were reportedly wide open. Right away the baby sitter's mother started CPR. The 11 year old baby sitter then told the mothers that Zyda had fallen out of bed, and that she put her back in bed and gave her some apple juice. Zyda was rushed to Scottish Rite Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy indicated she suffered blunt-force trauma to her head, torso, and buttocks. The 11 year old baby sitter was then taken into custody and charged as of right now with felony murder and cruelty to children. The Sandy Springs Police are conducting interviews and examining the evidence from the autopsy. It is still unclear whether the case will be handled by juvenile authorities. This case is an interesting one. While yes, the injuries Zyda suffered are not likely to have happened from just falling out of a bed, but at the same time it's not impossible. However, even with that being said, the article did not give any background on the 11 year old, so without that information you can not say whether this child is capable of such acts of cruelty to Zyda. In my opinion, due to how quickly the Sandy Springs Police have taken the 11 year old baby sitter in they must know and have some information that is not provided in this article, so I would say the child is guilty. Finally, all the questions come in about can a 11 year old really be charge with such crimes? Does a child know what their actions cause in these situations? Or should an 11 year old even be baby sitting a 2 year old? There are tons of questions to answer with this crime. Very interesting case.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/21/georgia.baby.sitter/index.html
Wow... This is crazy! Why would an 11-year old be babysitting a two-year old! She can't even babysit herself! I completely agree with you, if the police took this girl into custody so fast they must have probable cause. I don’t think that an 11-year would have the mental capacity to fully understand the consequences of their actions, but like you said, prior history would come into play here. Still... Crazy....
ReplyDeleteYes, it's possible that she punished her but then the child died from the injuries. It will be interesting to see what evidence they have...
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how if she suffered trauma to the head, how they are going to prove that falling out of the bed didn't occur. It's hard to imagine an 11 year old killing a child, but I also can't believe someone would put an 11 year old in charge of such a small child. First of all, I'm pretty sure I still had a babysitter when I was 11 myself. Secondly, my parents made my sister take a babysitting class before they let her babysit, and I think there should be some sort of law making sure you are capable of taking care of children.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty sad. It is hard to imagine an 11 year old doing suck a thing but if her parents were violent enough I guess that might be the norm that she knows for perceived deviance at home. 11 is a young age to be babysitting. Is it legal in Georgia to have temporary custody of a child at such an age?
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