A New York court heard what a mother did after her boyfriend allegedly beat her 6-year-old son to death in 2016.
According to the New York Daily News, Geraldine Perkins, 29, testified on Wednesday that she stood by and did nothing as Ryshiem Smith, 45, beat Zymere Perkins until he died. Smith, who is currently on trial for second-degree murder, is accused of fatally beating the boy for defecating in the living room.
“Why the f–k did you take a s**t? Why did you take a f*****g s**t in here? There’s a bathroom, you could have used the bathroom,” she said Smith yelled at the malnourished boy.
The mother reportedly watched as Smith battered Zymere Perkins with the sharp end of a broomstick and dump his lifeless body into a cold shower before continuing to beat him with a shower rod, cutting his head.
Prosecutors said they believe the boy died shortly after Smith hung him by his wet clothes on a hook on the bathroom door. Smith allegedly then pulled the boy off the hook and hurled him into a bedroom wall.
“I figured he was just faking,” the mother testified, according to the Daily Mail.
She was believed to have left to gotten food and waited hours before checking on her dead son. On Wednesday, she revealed that she spent 10 minutes putting on a wig and makeup before taking her son’s dead body to the hospital.
“I’m very self-conscious about how I look outside,” she said, revealing that she also read the Bible and cleaned the apartment before getting help.
Geraldine Perkins initially claimed that she delayed going to the hospital because she was hoping her son would wake up. However, under cross-examination, she admitted that the waited because she knew he was dead and that she was going to jail.
Prosecutors said Geraldine Perkins met Smith on the street 16 months before the murder. They accused Smith of abusing her son early on in the relationship and forcing her to also abuse her son under the guise of discipline.
Zymere Perkins slept on a makeshift bed in the living room of his roach- and maggot-infested home. She said his mother and her boyfriend withheld food as punishment — causing him to become so desperate he would eat out of the garbage.
A medical examiner previously testified that the 4-foot tall victim weighed 35 pounds and looked younger than his age. She also explained that an autopsy revealed he only had no more than a millimeter of a fat layer due to severe malnourishment.
Zymere Perkins reportedly had 30 rib fractures at the time of his death. Postmortem photos of 6-year-old’s thin body reportedly showed torso scarring and grab marks on his wrists. An examination reportedly determined he suffered widespread hemorrhaging underneath his skin due to the repeated beatings.
Three Administration for Child Services (ACS) workers were fired and the agency’s commissioner resigned in light of Zymere Perkins’ death. An investigation revealed that ACS closed an investigation before adequately verifying allegations of severe discipline involving him. The agency was also accused of essentially overlooking as many as five welfare reports pertaining to the slain child.
Geraldine Perkins pleaded guilty to third-degree manslaughter in 2017. She is expected to testify against Smith in exchange for a two-to-six year prison sentence.
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[Featured image: Zymere Perkins/Facebook]
