A TODDLER was brutally beaten to death because he swore while playing a violent 18-rated video game.
And the family of three-year-old X'Zavion Charleston are furious with the 33-year sentence handed to his killer.
While playing the 18-rated Mortal Kombat video game, little X'Zavion blurted out the curse in front of his mother’s boyfriend.
Outraged, 22-year-old Thomas Albea repeatedly punched the lad in the stomach so often and so hard that he died from multiple organ failure.
Now he has been jailed for just over three decades – but the boy’s family wanted him locked up for life.
But lawyers Eric Kalata and Victor O'Block had sought a sentence of natural life in prison for the killer for what they called a "brutal and heinous" crime.
The judge told Albea he would serve the full length of his sentence with no possibility of time off for good behaviour.
But after the hearing, x'Zavion's distraught mum Qachelle Charleston stormed from the court in tears.
Sheena Adams, X'Zavion's aunt, said: “I'm outraged he got 33 years.
"My nephew was three-years-old. He will never see school or drive a car.
"The defendant will be out when he is 50."
An earlier hearing was told how in September 2011, Albea beat the youngster multiple times in the stomach as the child was playing the video game and waiting for dinner at his mum's home in Waukegan, Illinois.
The man admitted during police interviews that he had struck X'Zavion after he swore while playing Mortal Kombat.
Medics battled to save the child but he died at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago from extreme damage to his internal organs.
In a statement at court, Albea said: “I would like to apologize to the family for the pain and suffering this situation has brought about."
The court was allowed to jail him for between 20 and 60 years for the offence.
Follow Me On Twitter & Instagram: @effiongeton
No comments:
Post a Comment