NYC Boy Charged With Homicide

By DONNA DE LA CRUZ Associated Press Writer

September 7, 2001, 6:14 AM EDT

NEW YORK -- An 8-year-old boy was charged with criminally negligent homicide Friday for allegedly stabbing to death a 4-year-old neighbor who police say had been bullied for more than a year.

The suspect's 9-year-old brother was charged with assault for his role in the attack, police said. Both were charged as juveniles.

Police said the 8-year-old stabbed Emanuel Barima in the neck _ piercing his jugular vein -- as the boy played with his sister in the hall outside their Bronx apartment Wednesday. Tests were being done to determine whether a set of house keys or a pen was the murder weapon.

The brothers are among the youngest people ever charged in the United States in a slaying. Criminally negligent homicide is a lesser offense than murder or manslaughter.

"From what we understand, it was one smack to the neck area or the striking of the neck area," Deputy Police Chief Joseph Reznick said. "It all happened so fast, they may not have realized they actually caused the death."

Police said the boys are too young to be placed in a detention facility; they could be referred to counseling, to a group home or to foster care.

The boys were interviewed by police and later released into the custody of an uncle. Reznick said the two brothers did not seem to realize how much trouble they faced.

"I don't think reality has set in yet," he said. "I think they soon will learn that this is something very, very serious."

Reznick said Barima and his 5-year-old sister, Abigail, were victims of "bullyism at its peak" at the hands of the brothers, who would tease them, spit on them and push them around.

The victim's mother, Elizabeth Ghunney, was baby-sitting and had sent Emanuel and his sister to throw away a soiled diaper in a hallway chute. Emanuel returned to the apartment and collapsed.

"They opened the door, and I heard that they were screaming," Ghunney said. She called 911 and used a dish towel to try to stop the bleeding.

"I kept on praying and praying and then they told me he wasn't going to make it," Ghunney said. Emanuel died about an hour later.

Neighbors set up a small shrine, with candles, flowers, teddy bears and balloons outside the five-story apartment building.

Thursday was supposed to be the first day of preschool for Emanuel, who wanted to be a doctor. Emanuel, the youngest of the family's five boys and one girl, was so excited that he packed his book bag days in advance.

Reznick said he hoped Abigail would be able to cope with her brother's death.

"You look at her and it's synonymous with innocence -- she's just a little 5-year-old kid who saw her brother being killed," he said.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001

Answers

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD????? yes..I am shouting!!!!! Just got a post at IC from a member who is locked in at work...an ex worker just killed the mother of 4 kids under 7....and they are afraid he will go to the place of work.....we are all praying for them, now this!!!!!

OH MY GOD..... that is all I can say...OH MY GOD!!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2001

NYPost

WHAT MADE KIDS MONSTERS?

By ANDREA PEYSER

September 8, 2001 -- HIS silence was awful.

The 8-year-old boy, accused of killing a baby of 4, faced seasoned police investigators.

He did not cry.

He did not apologize.

He did not wail for his mommy.

In fact, if the child understood something terrible had happened - a boy barely out of diapers was dead - he did not show it.

"This is a tough bunch," a source close to the most horrible case in this city's memory told me yesterday.

"There's a lot of denial.

"The thing we're trying to decide is if the kids involved are confused about what happened. Or if they're monsters."

Authorities so far are stumped. And horrified. And depressed.

Because in the end, it doesn't really matter what happened.

The boy charged with criminally negligent homicide for stabbing the throat of tiny Emmanuel Barima is 8 years old.

Cops said his brother, with whom he tormented Emmanuel and his 5-year-old sister, Abigail, all summer, is not quite 10.

Their innocence or guilt is of little consequence, because our system is equipped to handle children who slash tires, not throats.

In a few months, at most, the children likely will be back home, as if nothing happened.

And a little boy is dead, forever.

Stop for a moment, and try to comprehend how such children are made.

A boy of 8, who allegedly lashes out and takes the life of a toddler, as he slides in stocking feet in the hallway with his sister. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe not.

A boy of 8 who shows no sorrow. And no guilt.

Somewhere, these children learned there are no consequences for bullying.

Parents abdicate their responsibility. Then, like kids, they point fingers in every direction - at the schools, at video games.

Everywhere but home.

Peter Reinharz, the city's chief Family Court prosecutor, said a judge could send the brothers to a youth facility for only up to 18 months. The sentences could theoretically be extended until their 18th birthdays.

But jailers are free to release the boys after just six months, if they see fit.

"In all my years, this is really one of the bad ones," said Reinharz.

"A 4-year-old goes out into his hallway and suffers a fatal attack. Just when you think you've seen everything, something like this comes along."

Who pays for the death of Emmanuel Barima?

No one.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2001