9-Year-Old Girl Facing Charges After Allegedly Beating Little Brother To Death With Broom - But Who's Really To Blame??

A 9-year-old girl has been charged for fatally beating her younger brother.

The little girl, who has not been named, is facing a first-degree assault charge in connection with the death of her 4-year-old sibling. According to WALA, her aunt Yolanda Denise Coale revealed to investigators that she awoke to the sound of screams last Wednesday at her home in Mobile, Alabama, only to find the 9-year-old beating the young boy with a broomstick. Officers then responded to the medical emergency, but when they arrived at the scene, he was already dead. Just awful.

In court documents obtained by the local news outlet, the 9-year-old allegedly “did willfully torture, willfully abuse and cruelly beat” the young boy.

Truly horrific. However, it turns out that there is more to the story…

Investigators later discovered evidence of “long-term abuse,” including bruising on his body. This led to Aunt Yolanda being arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse on Thursday. Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Louis Walker said of the discovery:

“She was the legal guardian of the child. During the course of the investigation, Mobile police found evidence of abuse for this child, and then he was found deceased.”

Many details of the case still remain a mystery at this time, including how the two kids came to live with Coale in the first place — and the victim’s official cause of death. A police spokeswoman told WALA that investigators are still waiting on an autopsy at this time.

For now, Coale is being held on $150,000 bail, and she cannot have contact with any of the children if she ends up making bail. While no one has been charged with killing the 4-year-old so far, prosecutors said the aunt could face more charges soon. Coale’s only criminal history was a 2005 arrest for furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Following the tragic news of the child’s death, neighbors and friends have come forward and expressed their disbelief over what happened. One friend told Fox10 that the situation was completely out of left field for Coale:

“I don’t think she did the crime she’s been accused of. I’ve never seen her be aggressive to anyone — to me, her children, her grandchildren… that’s why I say I can’t fathom that she did anything to hurt anybody. She would never do anything to hurt anyone, let alone a 4-year-old.”

A neighbor shared a similar sentiment, telling NBC15:

“They seemed like a really nice family and there’s always a lot of kids over there playing all the time, so it was really devastating to hear what happened. I’ve been over there before. It’s really a nice house, it’s clean on the inside and the kids have nice toys. The kids always dress nice, so I really don’t understand what happened.”

This is just such a heartbreaking tragedy. We’ll have to wait and see how this case plays out.

[Image via WKRG/YouTube]