A 6-year-old Connecticut boy died a week after his strung-out new stepfather savagely beat him, his 4-year-old brother and their mom with a baseball bat, according to police.
Abdulrahim Sulaiman, 38, is charged with murder and other charges for the slaying of young Jathan Escobar, who died after spending a week in the hospital in critical condition, according to the Bridgeport Police Department.
The boy’s 33-year-old mother — who had only recently married Sulaimen — allegedly called 911 from their apartment on Sept. 25, screaming: “Please help us!”
“He’s hitting us with a bat!” she cried to the dispatcher as loud banging sounds echoed in the background, according to a police report obtained by People Magazine.
Moments later, surveillance video showed Sulaiman — who had allegedly been smoking angel dust — “jumping out of an upper window and landing headfirst into a dumpster before swinging the bat around, the report stated.
When police arrived, Sulaiman had blood all over his hands and arms and was “muttering to himself,” police said. He was then taken into custody.
Inside the apartment, the mother was found bleeding from a hole in her head near her eye as she desperately held onto Jathan, who was also profusely bleeding and had visible “brain matter” from a gaping gash in the top of his head, according to the report.
Jathan’s 4-year-old brother was also critically injured. The two boys and their mother were rushed to local hospitals, before the boys were later airlifted by helicopter to the pediatric emergency center at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven.
Jathan succumbed to his injuries Wednesday last week. His younger brother’s condition was later upgraded to stable condition, authorities said.
The children’s mother told police that Sulaiman had been smoking “angel dust,” NBC Connecticut reported. He had threatened to kill her and her children with a gun in the past, she told cops.
Sulaiman has a long criminal history, including for violent felonies, the reports said. Connecticut’s Department of Children and Family had interacted with the victims just two months prior to the boy’s death, state officials confirmed to USA TODAY.
Relatives of the boys said their mother had only Sulaiman for a year and has been married to him for a couple of months.
“I knew he was hitting her because she told me and I knew he threatened to kill her and the kids,” said Sandra Escobar, Jathan’s aunt, told WFSB.
Sulaiman’s next court date has been scheduled for Oct. 10.
He is being held on a $10 million bond and has been placed on suicide watch.