Florida child, 3, dead after he was beaten with plastic rod, report indicates
Three people are facing charges in connection to the death of a 3-year-old child in Orange County. One of those people is the child’s mother, according to reports.
The mother, 23-year-old Brandi M. Mokarzel, is charged with neglect of a child with great bodily harm, according to a Bay News 9 report.
Mokarzel’s girlfriend, Lakesha C. Lewis, 28, and Lewis’ mother, 58-year-old Callene M. Barton, were also in the home and face first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges, according to the report. Lewis’ son, 4, was in the home and taken into state custody.
About noon Friday, Mokarzel heard Barton yell at the boy for “drinking from a milk jug and eating yogurt,” she told investigators. She added Lewis beat the boy with “a long, slender, white piece of plastic used to turn window blinds,” until it broke, according to Bay News 9.
Mokarzel took the child into her bedroom, but Barton came in, grabbed him and threw him down the hallway, where he started shaking as if seizing, Bay News 9 reports she told investigators. The child died at a hospital Friday.
Mokarzel appeared in court Saturday.
Barton went before a judge on Sunday, according to Bay News 9.
Sara Nealeigh: 941-745-7081, @saranealeigh
This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Florida child, 3, dead after he was beaten with plastic rod, report indicates."