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Neighbors shouted and cursed Lemar Martin and Nymeen Cheatham as they were led from their apartment building in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Despite the sweltering heat, Cheatham wore a heavy parka, so she could pull the fur-trimmed hood over her head to hide her face. The pair were arrested in connection to the death of three-year-old Kyle Smith, who was declared dead Friday afternoon despite the best efforts of EMS workers. Cheatham was the young boy's godmother, who was ambiguously granted custody of him about a year ago due to his mother's crack addiction (Cheatham showed for the court hearing, but left before the actual proceedings could take place).
Kyle Smith was beaten to death. Police have told people that it appears that he was anally sodomized with a wooden stick; he had a broken leg, a broken pelvis, and cigarette burns all over his back. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide once it became clear that he'd been beaten to death.
Although Kyle only lived with 30-year-old Cheatham and her 25-year-old fiancé Martin for a a year, police had visited her home three times in calls related to the boy's custodial state; no arrests were ever made. The Administration for Children's Services said that it was never involved with Smith or his living situation because he was never in the foster care system and no formal charges of child abuse were ever filed.
The building's superintendent, Gail McNally, told the Daily News that while Smith appeared to be a happy child, Cheatham was "arrogant and obnoxious" with a tendency to "go ballistic at times. She was always yapping." McNally also told the News that Kyle's father had petitioned for custody when he was taken from his crack-addict mom, but a court decided to give the boy to Cheatham.
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Reading all the stories related to this case, one of the most disturbing things is that it didn't appear that signs of abuse--even specifically witnessed instances of abuse--were invisible to the neighbors. CBS interviewed one man who said he felt terrible, because he could have said something about the boy's treatment, but decided to mind his own business.
Godmother isn't legally binding, right?
How did this child go to a "godmother" and not the father?
Since the police came to the home a few times, someone must have reported it at some point. And yes, it's disturbing, and we'd all like to think we would have been more active had we been there. However, I don't think it's one of the most disturbing things about the story. This kid was shuffled around, finally to someone who didn't have custody of her OWN children. His arm was broken soon after arriving at the home. He had a broken PELVIS. He'd been sodomized. He had cigarette burns. He was beaten. He was two and three when these things happened. Those are all a lot more disturbing.
The courts always award custody to a woman, any woman, even a random woman, because men are evil and woman have that tender touch...with their lit cigarettes,broomstick handles, and hard-soled shoes. That judge who awarded custody to these two garbages should be held criminally and civilly liable.
The child welfare people are as good at their jobs as are the crane inspectors. The lethargy and non-caring make all these situations life threatening. We spend public money in all the wrong places
As stated, none of the police visits were related to abuse or suspected abuse. They were related to disputes over the child's custody. And it seems like ACS may get a pass on this one. The kid was never in the foster care system and there was never a criminal report made about child abuse. Unless the ACS is supposed to be psychic and randomly peering through windows looking for abuse, it seems difficult to see how it could have prevented Smith's murder.
I hope the zipper got stuck and she wont be able to take off that parka for the next five days and the cells are all full so she will have to wait outside in the shadeless courtyard.
I'm thinking steel cage death match between these sickos and the Hamilton Heights rapist. Lock them in a room together and let them have at eachother.
That parka is a tacit admission of guilt, if you ask me. You don't hide your face unless you've done something you know is wrong.
The parka is tacit proof that the animal has no feelings and that her prompt execution however horrible and painful it might seem to a normal wacko, will not hurt her at all.
sonyactivision, maybe 40 years ago, but not now.
The usual process with kinship care is to try to get the kid with a relative he or she knows. If a relative, or a family friend who has significant bonds to the child, steps up and requests custody, the court will generally grant it to avoid putting the kid into the foster care system. The entire point of the "godparent" designation is to provide a surrogate in the event something happens to the parent.
If the kid didn't go to the father, it's likely because the father i a deadbeat dad who is not in the picture. You'll notice that in all these news stories, he hasn't spoken up once. You can't grant custody to a father if there's no father to be found.
A deadbeat father of a black child, how can that be?
I don't see where anyone is getting the impression of a deadbeat father. Kyle Smith's mother was a crack addict. His father petitioned for custody when it was clear that she was going to lose the boy. The three police visits to the Cheatham/Martin home were based on custodial grounds--probably b/c Cheatham bailed from court with Kyle before their case could be heard. I haven't read anything to indicate that the father was a neglectful parent yet.
Now his son is tortured and murdered, and people are trying to heap unwarranted abuse on the man who just lost his kid? Stay classy NYers.
It certainly wasn't my attention to insult this boy or make light of the situation. Although I have to wonder how it is that this poor child lived with the godmother for a year and his father didn't notice signs of abuse and call ACS. If he had been visiting the child or even listening to gossip from neighbors in the godmother's building, this couldn't have gone unnoticed.
I was actually responding to the inane comment which stated that the courts always favored women over men in custody cases, even when it was not in the child's best interest. Most of the time, when a child ends up with a nonparental guardian--a grandparent, sibling, godparent, whatever--it is because the parents are out of the picture for some reason. When both parents are living and neither has custody of the child, and the court gives custody to a non-biological third party, it usually implies that they are both either unfit or completely absent.
In this instance, who did the courts favor, roe? Even though the bioplogical mother was hooked on crack and even if the father was involved with that, could the outcome have been any worse? That judge has a death to answer for, and saying the system is much fairer today isn't going to bring that child back.
That's an unfounded assumption. According to the Post article, the father lives out of state, visited on weekends and had been trying to get custody. Hardly a deadbeat who's nowhere to be found.