SICK TORTURE
Foster mom ‘bit four-year-old’s LIP off and tried to stitch it back before abused girl died from brain swelling’
AN abusive foster mom charged with murdering a four-year-old girl is accused of nearly biting off her lip and trying to stitch it back together before the child eventually died from brain swelling.
Samilya Brown bit and nearly tore Zya Singleton's lip off her face during the two years the little girl lived with her, according to a coroner's court testimony heard on Tuesday.
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Prosecutors said the 38-year-old then tried to stitch Zya's severed lip in her home.
"And thinking that that child was being attempted to be stitched at home," said homicide prosecutor Chesley Lightsey.
"You know, stitches in a regular situation would hurt, so I can't imagine what that felt like."
The medical examiner who took the stand at Brown's court hearing described injuries including torn skin and broken bones to the courtroom in Philadelphia, reported.
The "avalanche" of injuries snowballed into brain swelling so severe that it cracked the little girl's skull.
Little Zya eventually developed sepsis, which caused her tragic death on November 3.
"I actually believe the intent is born out of weeks and weeks of not seeking true medical attention," Lightsey said.
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Investigators believe Brown routinely abused Zya for the two years she lived with her, police said.
Brown avoided looking at gruesome photos of the girl's mangled body and shredded face when they were displayed onscreen.
Gasps and sobs echoed throughout the courtroom as prosecutors noted that the wound to Zya's mouth and nose "is visually the most disturbing."
Zya's mom gave Brown - a friend of hers - custody of her daughter because was unable to properly care for her, according to KYW-TV.
Authorities reportedly possess a notarized letter from the child's mother that signs over custody to Brown.
Days before little Zya died from a blood infection, Brown dialed 911 after the girl fell unconscious at her home in Philadelphia on October 30.
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She falsely claimed Zya was playing with a cat when she fell out a second-story bedroom window.
It wasn’t until Zya’s medical examination at the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania where she was found to be a victim of abuse.
Zya had suffered signs of malnourishment, cigarette burns, puncture wounds and open wounds to her face and scalp, authorities said.
She was found with severely infected wounds that potentially developed from the makeshift stitches found on her body.
District Attorney Larry Krasner stated: “This is a horrific, heartbreaking case of abuse, neglect, and murder of an innocent, defenseless child.
“All children deserve care, protection, and love — no matter the circumstances of how they come into this world.
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Zya succumbed to her injuries four days after police responded to the scene.
Brown was charged with first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, and other related charges in November.
On Tuesday, her attorneys unsuccessfully requested for the first-degree murder charges to be downgraded to third-degree murder, insisting that Zya's killing wasn't premeditated.
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