MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Gardens man has been arrested and charged with the abuse of one child and the molestation of another.
According to Miami Gardens Police, officers responded to a home near Northwest 27th Avenue and 191st Street, Sunday, after receiving a call regarding a 4-year-old boy who suffered burns.
4 YO Miami Gardens child has died days after police say he suffered devastating injuries and burns while in the care of his mother’s boyfriend. @wsvn Live reports this afternoon on 7 News pic.twitter.com/jBs23evE9d
— Jessica Holly (@JhollyW) April 24, 2019
Investigators said the child, later identified as Romiere Cotton, was left in the care of 23-year-old Khalil Malik Jabali, who left the boy alone in the bathroom after he soiled his clothes while sleeping, Sunday.
Detectives said Jabali prepared a bowl of hot water in the microwave and left the bathroom only to return and find the child had sustained severe burns from the bowl of hot water.
“So he got scalding hot water from the microwave. According to the A-form, he leaves it next to the kid. Something happened, and the water gets all over the kid, to where his skin starts peeling off,” a prosecutor said in bond court.
Prosecutors said the burns covered 15% of the child’s body.
Police said Jabali and the boy’s mother rushed him to a local hospital a few hours after the incident. The child was transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center where, according to family members, he died three days later.
Jabali was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse. However, police said, during the investigation, the boy’s 6-year-old sibling was interviewed, and as a result Jabali was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child less than 12 years of age.
This is not the first time the family has been in the news.
Danisha Cotton, Romiere’s mother, was featured in a July 2017 7News story after she gave birth to her third child in the hospital parking lot.
A 2-year-old Romiere could be seen in the story with his sister, the child Jabali is accused of molesting.
Jabali could face additional charges because Romiere passed away.
A GoFundMe page has since been set up to help the family cover the costs of the 4-year-old’s funeral. To donate, click here.
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