9-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Beat Younger Brother To Death With A Broomstick

A 9-year-old Alabama girl allegedly beat her 4-year-old younger brother to death with a broomstick on Thursday, Feb. 3.

On Thursday, at approximately 8:19 a.m., officers responded to the 1800 block of Jacob Drive after they received information regarding a medical emergency involving a child. When they reached the residence, they found the injured four-year-old male child, whose identity has been withheld from the public, unresponsive inside the home, New York Post reported.

The Mobile Fire-Rescue team also responded to the scene and pronounced the young victim dead on the scene. The first responders reportedly noticed that the toddler showed visible signs of child abuse on his body.

When the officers eventually questioned the victim's aunt and legal guardian, Yolanda Coale, 53, she told the authorities that on the morning of Feb. 3, she woke up to the sound of her children screaming and saw the 9-year-old girl hitting her younger brother with a broomstick until he became unconscious, Mobile Police Department reported.

Following this, the officers charged Coale with Aggravated Child Abuse and arrested her. Meanwhile, the 9-year-old girl was charged with assault.

According to court documents, the 9-year-old girl “did willfully torture, willfully abuse and cruelly beat” her brother. The documents also revealed that there were past injuries and signs that indicate long-term abuse on the young boy’s body.

Meanwhile, an autopsy is yet to be conducted to determine the victim's exact cause of death. As of press time, no one has been charged with murder in connection with the case.

Coale has been transferred to a local jail, where she is being held on a $150,000 bail. According to court documents, she has yet to get an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a 4-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old brother after their father reportedly left them unsupervised on Aug. 1, 2021, Latin Times reported.

On Aug. 1, the father, Giovanni Smith, 26, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, allegedly left his two children, aged 2 and 4, in his bedroom to watch cartoons on the television while he was in another room talking on the phone.

A while later, Smith heard a "pop" sound and rushed back to the bedroom to find his 2-year-old child shot in the chest and his 4-year-old child holding the gun and crying.

Smith’s mother reportedly handed the gun to Smith six weeks before the incident as she took in a foster child and wanted the gun kept away from the toddler.

Smith initially told police that he kept the gun underneath his mattress with the safety on. However, when the 4-year-old was questioned, he reportedly told the police that he found the gun on top of a speaker next to the bed.

Smith has been charged with one count of neglecting a child resulting in death. If convicted, Smith could face up to 25 years in prison.