Heartbreaking. Horrific. Beyond disgusting.
A 20-year-old Long Island man is behind bars and accused of brutally beating the life out of a 17-month-old boy that he was babysitting. The little boy was "acting like a little girl", Pedro Jones told police, reports ABC 7.
"Police were called to the scene [at the Shinnecock Indian Reservation] around 8:25 Sunday night. The child was in cardiac arrest, police said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. According to court documents, Jones, who was not related to the boy, punched him over and over with closed fists and grabbed him by the neck. Documents say he confessed to the crime, telling troopers, 'I was trying to make him act like a boy instead of a little girl. I never struck that kid that hard before. A one-time mistake, and I am going to do 20 years.' He told troopers he planned to marry Roy's mother, who is a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. They lived together on tribal land in Southampton."
According to the felony complaint, Jones said, "I never struck the child that hard before" and "One mistake, I'm going to do 20 years." Beating an infant to death is a mistake?
Jones was arraigned and plead not guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter, reports WCAX. And claimed yet another underage casualty to hypermasculine thug culture. Watch ABC 7 and WPIX's reports AFTER THE JUMP ...
Sad....I am sure this guy has his own issues with sexuality....which will clearly be explored for the next 20 years.
Posted by: DJ Fatha Julz | 03 August 2010 at 13:09
This is just heartbreaking. Prayers to the baby and his family.
Posted by: Ruiz | 03 August 2010 at 13:11
This atrocity was not a "one-time mistake". Taking the wrong exit on the expressway is a "one-time mistake". This was murder, preciptiated by Jones' own deep-seated homophobia and sexual insecurity. I cried real tears reading this, not just for the baby that will never grow up, but for the mores of a society that encourages hypermasculinity to the point of murder.
Posted by: Nathan James | 03 August 2010 at 13:16
I hope he spends everyday of the next 20yrs thinking about this. It never ceases to amaze me how hateful and sick some people can be.
Posted by: The Truth | 03 August 2010 at 13:28
Heartbreaking! Put him under the jail and throw away the key!
At 17 months this baby doesn't know a thing about acting any kind of way. How can you even put your hands on a child? Especially a child that isn't even yours. He should be very thankful that child wasn't mine, because 20 years in jail would be the lease of his worries.
...and 20 years is NOT enough! This is the most DISGUSTING thing I've read in awhile. I'm heartbroken.....
Posted by: Isis | 03 August 2010 at 13:29
This is just sickening beyond imagination. I hope he gets treated like little girl in the prison for the next 20 years.
Posted by: fabrice | 03 August 2010 at 13:32
The horror that the child had already known at the hands of this savage brute.
When I witness the way that some young parents (if you want to call them that) treat their children here in the in the inner-city of Philadelphia I'm surprised this kind of savagery doesn't happen more often...maybe it does, but it doesn't make the news. And it is not just an inner-city problem--but you actually witness it here--the child abuse.
The torture and murder of a baby becasue you want him to "act like a boy--grow up to be a man": I wish some these Rap performers would speak out about how unmanly that is.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | 03 August 2010 at 13:48
This is not the first incident involving an adult killing a child because of homophobia.
Homophobes attack children, adults, the elderly or whoever.
I'm not surprised.
Posted by: Mel Smith | 03 August 2010 at 13:50
I hope he gets the same treatment in prison that he gave to that child
Posted by: CC | 03 August 2010 at 14:11
Yes, Mel. I remember how the case of little 3 year old Ronnie Paris affected you so painfully, and the rest of us. In that case, the father definitely was trying to prevent his son from becoming "gay"--so he slap boxed his little boy's head into massive hemorrhaging.
This was a baby, and the beast who killed him is a sick motha' f-cka'...but many gay & trans people have memories of being tortured as children by so-called adults trying to stop them from growing up to become faggots or dykes.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | 03 August 2010 at 14:11
This sick motherf**ker needs to AT LEAST rot in prison for the rest of his life! Inmates do not respond kindly to those that kill children and I hope he gets it in his as* in the worst way possible!
Posted by: MW09 | 03 August 2010 at 14:21
Death. Kill his big stupid ignorant ass..
Posted by: FREELEO | 03 August 2010 at 14:23
Derrick, I'm glad you remember that case. You just reminded me.
Posted by: Mel Smith | 03 August 2010 at 14:23
i can bearly write this for the tears streaming down my face it is with a very broken heart that i speak how in the hell can a 17month old know the difference between acting like a girl or boy at that age i mean come on would you beat the shit out of a child because he or she was acting like a monkey get real, if they would give me one hour with his ass i'd give his punk ass a good ass stumping that would shake his ass up for eternity son-a- bitch
Posted by: Mr. W.P. Cosby-Arnold | 03 August 2010 at 14:24
this is so not right.....if we could move back in time out in the old west he would of been hanging from a tree already.....My heart goes out the family of the child...Remember god loves all the little children for they know no Sin, i bet right now the child is sitting next to god.
Posted by: STEVE from DC | 03 August 2010 at 14:29
I'm sure he's gonna be someone's b^tch in prison when they find out he killed his gf's kid who was less than 2 years old. Folks like this just need to be shot dead in the street. I can't believe they would even bother with a trial, he admitted to killing the boy.
Posted by: Fred | 03 August 2010 at 14:34
I gather from the article that it seems like this isn't the first time he put his hands on this precious little boy. What kind of sick individual does this to a one and half year old baby? I agree with Isis. If it were my child 20 years would certainly be the least of his worries. I would call up some of the fellas and they would take Pedro to a nice dark alley.....use your imagination for the rest.
Posted by: Mikey-He Likes It | 03 August 2010 at 14:34
This depresses the hell out of me. He's only a baby. 20 years isn't enough.
Posted by: Charles | 03 August 2010 at 14:42
Physical & verbal abuse of this nature was something I became all to familiar with as a child. I survived, scarred but I survived. This 17 month old baby boy did not. The only thing left is the memory of this story.......20 years is not enough & I pray for justice. Pedro Jones "your demons" caused this, not the child's.....
Posted by: Xavier Onassis Bloomingdale | 03 August 2010 at 14:44
HEARTBREAKING.
Posted by: Luther Mace | 03 August 2010 at 14:53
How do you get only 20 years for killing a baby? That is total BS if that is what he ends up getting. Beating a child to death is not a mistake, this kid will never get to grow up and have a life now and this idiot should not get any sympathy from anyone sane when he talks about his "mistake"
Posted by: JinCA | 03 August 2010 at 14:58
This fool needs life in prison
Posted by: Monica Roberts | 03 August 2010 at 15:10
I blame the baby's mother for this. These heffas need to stop leaving their kids with any and every man they meet. I don't give a damn if she was planning to marry him or not. This is insane.
Posted by: Mystic Stranger | 03 August 2010 at 15:47
"Struck that hard BEFORE"? Does this mean he's hit the child on previous occasions?
He'll have to be in protective custody while in jail. Inmates -- because many were abused themselves -- are particularly brutal to those who do things to children
Posted by: reggieh | 03 August 2010 at 16:02
OMG, how could that monster do this to that beautiful baby?
I hope that "street justice" prevails once he's convicted and behind bars.
Posted by: Barton | 03 August 2010 at 16:25