Aniyah Darnell, 2, has become one of the tragic stories about a Black child dead due to abuse.
The toddler was left by her mother in the care of Shamonica Page sometime in August 2018. That decision would prove fatal some four months later after a coroner revealed the child suffered from burns and bruises under the care of Page and her boyfriend Derick Roberson.
According to CBSDFW-News, police and EMT units responded to a 911 call about a child not breathing at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Upon arrival, Aniyah was rushed to an Arlington hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
As police interviewed Page, she confessed that she had beaten the child for wetting herself, and both she and her boyfriend were arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants. Later it was discovered that Aniyah had serious burns on her body that were several weeks old and infected. Page told police investigators that she had burned Aniyah on her buttocks area to teach her a lesson. The burns required immediate medical attention, but Page treated the child with home remedies that proved ineffective. Despite the burns to Aniyah, Page admitted to police that she and her boyfriend continued to strike the child in the burned area on multiple occasions with a belt or their hands.
“We believe there was human intervention that caused this child to stop breathing and to sustain the injuries that she had,” said Arlington Police Lt. Chris Cook. “Based upon that and the interviews we received this afternoon, we upgraded those charges.”
Page is charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony, while Roberson was charged with injury to a child by omission, a third-degree felony. Charges against them could be upgraded once the full autopsy results are released by the coroner.
Police also removed two other small children from the home and placed them the care of Child Protective Services. At this time, police are trying to locate Aniyah’s mother and determine the relationship between her and Page.
