According to the court documents, the 21-year-old man was found guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors said the defendant beat his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter to death. He was convicted on Thursday. The child’s mother said that her boyfriend threw the toddler across the room when she refused to eat. The child hit part of the couch and landed on the floor where she hit her head and had a seizure for more than 45 minutes before they called 911.
The 21-year-old man from Pennsylvania, Jahrid Burgess, killed 3-year-old Arabella Parker. The child’s mother, Samantha Delcamp, who faces a pending count of homicide, told prosecutors that she was washing dishes on Oct. 10, 2019. The 25-year-old mother then heard her boyfriend yelling at Parker.
The mother told prosecutors that her boyfriend had the girl by the throat and threw her on children’s furniture. The 25-year-old mother said that her boyfriend threw the toddler across the room because she was picking at her food and refused to eat. The child hit part of the couch and landed on the floor where she hit her head, according to reports. Delcamp asked Burgess to call 911, but he instead called his 51-year-old mother, Christy Willis, who called 911.
The 25-year-old mother also told investigators that she at first lied to police after the fatal beating out of fear of Burgess. She also said that Burgess told her: “If anything happens to Arabella, we can just have another child or a double suicide.” The mother testified that her boyfriend also beat her when she was pregnant, causing her to lose the child. The child was his, she said.
Prosecutors said that the 3-year-old child suffered from brain damage and broken bones. Arabella remained at the hospital for more than a month before she died. The mother testified that her boyfriend had previously physically abused her and Parker. One abuse included him kicking the 3-year-old girl in the back three days before the fatal attack and holding her in the bathtub while dousing her face with water.
Prosecutors said the wait time to call 911 was 49 minutes after the attack and that Burgess waited so long because he knew he was in serious trouble if Arabella went to the hospital because they would see the bruises from the beatings she received.
The boyfriend denied ever hitting the 3-year-old girl. He testified that he did throw the child onto a piece of children’s furniture but insisted he did not mean to hurt her. He said: “A misthrow is a misthrow, but accidents happen. I am embarrassed, but I didn’t mean to hurt this child. I have to live with it every day. I love and miss Arabella.”