'Mommy, help me': Harrowing last words of Brooklyn girl, 9, who was brutally beaten to death by mom
A mother of a 9-year-old Brooklyn girl threw a bed on her daughter after hitting her, then repeatedly ignored her pleas before the little girl died. On Tuesday, May 17, prosecutors described the heartbreaking circumstances of the girl's dying hours before her mother's appearance in Brooklyn Criminal Court, where she was ordered jailed without the possibility of getting bail.
Shemene Cato, 48, has been charged with murder, manslaughter, assault, and other offenses in connection with the death of her youngest daughter Shalom Guifarro over a stolen iPad on Sunday morning, May 15. Prosecutors claim that Little Shalom was hiding from her enraged mother, who spent two hours beating her and her 13-year-old sister with an extension wire and a broom inside their Lincoln Place apartment.
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Shalom's safe retreat from her violent mother, however, turned out to be a nightmare. Assistant District Attorney David Ingle said in the court, “The defendant lifted up the bed, attempting to pull the child out from underneath. The bed dropped on Shalom... The bed fell onto her head.” The infant was still alive when Cato dropped the bed on her daughter, according to Ingle. However, Shalom couldn't get up, was unresponsive, and kept saying, 'Mommy, help me’ according to the prosecutor. Later, Shalom's elder sister finally contacted the cops at about 1 p.m.
Police arrived at the location and found Shalom dead inside after suffering severe blunt force injuries to her head and body, according to the municipal Medical Examiners Office. Cato walked into court Tuesday, May 17, and throughout the hearings, the accused mom remained silent and hung her head down. According to the CBS News New York, cops had been to Cato's apartment 14 times before for domestic violence allegations, the most of which were Cato complaining about her ex's claimed harassment. According to the NY Post, Cato works for the municipal Human Resources Administration, and her union is currently paying for the lawyer's legal expenses.
Neighbors also told that Cato often screamed at the kids. Neighbor Jason Rahimzadeh told, “I heard a lot of screaming and fighting from the apartment. I heard loud arguments at least 10 times, where they were screaming at the top of their lungs. The family kept to themselves. Everyone in the building is so nice and calm, but we all knew that apartment was trouble.” According to Bart Hubbuch, who operates a bar near the apartment, “Their mother frequently cussed them out and wouldn’t let them play with the other kids on the block.”