A four-year-old boy found dead in a Manhattan bathtub on Wednesday suffered excruciating torture at the hands of his babysitter for weeks after his dad left, she allegedly told police.
Myles Dobson was covered with bruises and burns over his arms, legs and genitals when he was found unconscious in Janaie Jones’ apartment at the The Ritz Plaza in Midtown.
The 37-year-old told authorities that she was trying to discipline the young boy after she assumed care of the boy on December 18 when his father, Okee Wade, 37, was sent to jail.
‘I was giving him corporal punishment,’ Jones, a transgender performer who uses the name Kryzie King, allegedly admitted to police, DNAinfo reported. ‘I was trying to control him.’
She allegedly admitted to police that, from December 28, she beat the boy with belts and hangers, burned him and locked him alone inside the bathroom for hours in an attempt to control his behavior.
Other sources told the news site that Jones rarely took the boy outside and beat him when he asked to go to McDonald’s.
She told police that she left Dobson alone in the bathroom on Wednesday and heard a ‘thud’ and when she went inside, she saw him unconscious in the bathtub, police said.
She claimed she had set the boy on a ledge in the bathroom of the eleventh floor apartment before leaving the room momentarily.
Police responded to a 911 call at The Ritz Plaza apartment building at 235 West 48th Street and found the boy unconscious and unresponsive.
He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Jones was taken to the Midtown North Precinct stationhouse, where she allegedly admitted that she had abused the boy in recent weeks. She is expected to be charged.
The medical examiner is expected to conduct an autopsy Thursday morning, and charges will be filed after that.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Myles had to endure ‘horrific injuries over a period of days’ as he spoke at a press conference on Thursday.
Jones looked after the boy after his father was arrested on a warrant for missing a court appearance in New Jersey on fraud charges, DNAinfo reported.
It was not immediately clear where the mother was, but according to the New York Daily News, she had lost custody.
The Administration of Children’s Services is also investigating, and isn’t allowed to divulge whether the family has a record.
Sources told NBC New York that the babysitter doesn’t have a history of child abuse or neglect
Source:ww.dailymail.co.uk