20 February 2024 , 02:51
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A three-year-old girl was brutally beaten to death by two young suspects while her mother allegedly went to the casino to gamble with a friend.
Terica Scott, 26, and Dineshia Yates, 26, were each charged with one count of principal to simple battery and principal to second-degree murder in the death of Blessings Buckles, according to records obtained by Law&Crime.
The unnamed juveniles - ages 10 and 12 - were detained and each charged with one count of battery and second-degree murder.
On February 12, deputies with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office responded to a call at around 3:45PM after getting reports of an unresponsive three-year-old girl at a home on the 3300 block of O'Neal Lane.
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Terica Scott's nephew and son allegedly beat the little girl to death (East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office)At the time of the call, the caller - who identified themselves as a child - told the dispatcher that there were no adults in the home, a release from the sheriff's department reads.
As they arrived on the scene, first responders reported seeing the two women pulling into the driveway of the home with their hazard lights on.
The women would inform police that they had left the children at the home while they had gone to the casino, with the ages of the children inside the home ranging from 11 months to 12 years old. Authorities would later determine that Scott was the mother and aunt of the two older children while Yates was the mother of Blessings.
Blessings was resuscitated at the home by emergency medical personnel and rushed to hospital for treatment, where she was admitted as being in critical condition. She would later succumb to her injuries and was pronounced dead on Feb 14.
The toddler suffered a brain bleed as well as bruising to the face and body which were likely caused by blunt force trauma, hospital staff informed local authorities.
The women told police that they regularly left their eight children in the home without supervision while they went gambling at the casino for the two weeks Yates and her children stayed with Scott, WBRZ reported. The two women, who both have previous criminal records, are not related.
Scott is also said to have informed police that she was aware of her 12-year-old nephew was routinely violent with the other kids, noting that he had even beaten on one of her daughters, WAFB reported. Police said that Scott repeatedly "ignored her children's pleas for help," while they were subjected to violence.
“A case like this is devastating,” Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said soon after the arrests. “My heart breaks for this child lost too soon, and I pray for the others involved. Please call law enforcement immediately if you are ever aware of abuse, neglect or desertion of children.”