Court hears how girl, 4, was beaten to death

(Trinidad Guardian) A jury on Wednesday was told a horrible story of how a four-year-old girl was strung up by her hair and punched 20 to 30 times, allegedly by her stepfather.

Her name was Amy Emily Annamunthodo, said State attorney Maureciea Joseph, as she outlined multiple internal and external injuries the child suffered. Joseph disclosed that as she opened the State’s case against Amy’s stepfather, Marlon King, 38, who is on trial before Justice Anthony Carmona charged with the child’s murder. He is being represented by attorney El Farouk Hosein.

It is alleged that Amy was beaten on May 15, 2006 at her Marabella home where she lived with her mother, Anita Annamunthodo, and King. Joseph said the pathologist found the child died from multiple traumatic external force injuries.

She told the judge and jury in the San Fernando First Criminal Assizes that they would hear from King’s friend, Andre Anthony Rock, that on that fateful day he went to King’s home. He went downstairs the wooden house to smoke a cigarette, Joseph said, when he felt the house shaking. She said he walked up the stairs and looked through a hole. “In that hole he saw that man (pointing at King) had Amy strung up by her hair,” Joseph said. She said Rock observed the accused was cuffing Amy to the chest area 20 to 30 times. She said evidence would be led that Amy’s mother was not at home.

On the night of May 15, 2006 King and the child’s mother arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department with Amy in their arms. She said Amy was already dead, already in rigor mortis.

She said a pathologist, who examined the body in detail, found she was underdeveloped. She said the pathologist found injuries to her head, chest, abdomen, haemorrhaging to the scalp and neck and a fractured rib. Among the other injuries, she said, was haemorrhaging to the heart, lungs, a ruptured atrium to her heart, contusions to the liver, spleen and bleeding of her kidney.
The trial continues.