Reginald Williams, charged with second-degree murder for the fatal beating of two-year-old Aiyden Davis, admitted to slamming the child into the floor and beating him "until his own hands hurt." In a taped confession, he said he used his hands and knees to beat the child between September 13th and Friday, while he was watching him. Davis' mother, Theresa Foster, also admitted to beating the child and giving Williams permission to discipline him. Now, the mother may face murder charges as well.
Foster has already been charged with assault, possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child after admitting to beating the child with a belt every day for two whole weeks earlier this month. The child suffered a lacerated liver, which is consistent with being struck by a belt, and, if an autopsy shows that the liver injury caused the boy's death, Foster will also face murder charges.
Foster's aunt, Pamela Davis, said she would normally babysit Aiyden, but believes her niece didn't bring him over because he had bruises on him from previous beatings. She defended her niece to the Daily News: "My nephew came from a loving family. This is not what our family is about - never!" Foster's lawyer, Herbert J. Moses, also said his client "had some regrets" but countered the claims that she let Williams beat the child by saying, "She had no idea of what was going to happen to the boy. If she had, she never would have left him." Judge Loren Baily-Schiffman set Foster's bail at $150,000, saying, "I can't treat this as if it were a misdemeanor. This is way too serious."
