Derek Anthony Shockley Arkansas father sentenced 30 years prison after killing 13 month old baby girl placing her in scalding hot water as punishment.
An Arkansas father has been sentenced to 30 years jail after killing his 13-month-old baby daughter after the girl fatally succumbed to injuries sustained after being placed into a scalding hot bath as punishment.
Derek Anthony Shockley. Jr, 21, caused the death of Germanii Amarii Stewart after ‘dunking’ the baby into water of up to 153F (67C) at his home in Jacksonville, AK, on December 18 last year.
Police were called to the residence and found infant girl contorted in agony as her skin peeled off her body, according to an arrest report.
The water was so hot Germanii was left ‘writhing in pain’ and was burned on over two-thirds of her body, police said.
She died of septic shock and organ failure two days after Christmas, after spending nine days at Arkansas Children’s Hospital the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
Shockley claimed he had been cleaning Germanii off in the shower after she soiled herself when her skin started falling off her body.
When asked by his mother, Lavern Shockley, 39, how hot the water had been, Shockley is alleged to have replied, ‘not very hot at all’.
The father conceded the girl crying as as result, with the man saying he didn’t think anything of it since it was usual for the girl to cry. When he dried her off with a towel, he noticed Germanii’s skin peeling off.
Investigators found the temperature of the water coming from the tap at the time was 153F (67C), with water from the shower head flowing out at 113F (45C).
The defendant did not have any visible injuries, suggesting Shockley had placed Germanii in the bath rather than holding her under a hot shower.
It remained unclear what other instances of child abuse the infant daughter may have incurred at the hands of her father.
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Charges upgraded to first degree murder
On Monday, Shockley was jailed for 30 years after admitting second-degree murder, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Police charged Shockley with second-degree murder – a Class A felony that carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
But prosecutors reportedly upgraded that charge to Class Y felony first-degree battery of a child, the felony equivalent of first-degree murder, which carries a potential life sentence.
But there’s more.
Shockley will also face a 10 year prison term for shooting a man and battering his sister during a row over stolen cash.
He pleaded guilty to shooting Hayden Andrew Sheward in the stomach and assaulting Sheward’s 22-year-old sister during a row last October. Court records indicate Shockley getting into an altercation with Hayden Sheward over money, then choked Taylor Sheward when she tried to intervene.
The 10-year sentence will run concurrently to the 30 years in prison Shockley has been ordered to serve for murdering his daughter.
