On Tuesday, the mother of a 9-year-old girl discovered dead inside a Brooklyn apartment was arraigned on a slew of charges, including murder and assault, and some startling information of her alleged abuse were revealed for the very first time, NBC4 reported.
Shemene Cato was held in custody at Kings County Criminal Court after the charges against her were read aloud in court. She is charged with murder, assault, manslaughter, weapon possession, and endangering the welfare of a child, in addition to murder and assault.
Court documents detailed what allegedly took place on May 15, when Cato, 48, allegedly launched the attack that took the life of her youngest daughter, Shalom Guifarro, 9 years old.
According to prosecutors, the mother beat both of her daughters with an electrical cord and a broom around 8 a.m. in a two-hour violent attack.
Little Shalom crawled under a bed to hide as she tried to flee the abuse in their Crown Heights home. According to court documents, Cato picked up the bed and went to pull the child out from under. However, as she was doing so, she lowered the bed, causing one of the legs to fall off.
According to prosecutors, this caused the bed to fall on Shalom’s skull. She also allegedly received bumps and scrapes on the lower half of her torso. Documents show that the medical examiner discovered multiple blunt trauma impact injuries to Shalom’s face, head, and body, which caused internal injuries and eventually killed her.
Cato’s attorney information was not available immediately. The mother was orginally interviewed by police on Sunday, but was released before being apprehended Monday afternoon after the city’s medical examiner ruled the case a homicide.
Before police arrived around 1 p.m. Sunday, neighbors near the home off Lincoln Place where the girl was discovered reported a horrible smell coming from the residence.
The Administration for Children’s Protective Services says it is looking into the matter.
