It’s not clear which came first, the beatings or the baby’s tears.
But Brookhaven Cpl. Thomas Martin said he heard repeatedly after 8-month-old Kamonie Whitehead stopped breathing that the girl’s crying had been an issue for her mother and mother’s boyfriend. Martin testified Thursday a co-worker of the boyfriend came forward to tell authorities about statements Edward F. Wilson allegedly made.
“Edward would come to work and say he can’t stand that baby,” the detective said on the stand in DeKalb County Magistrate Court. The co-worker claimed Wilson said: “The child is crying constantly. I can’t get any sleep.’”
Wilson and the mother, Shavone Whitehead, were in court for a preliminary hearing on their charges of murder. The child died two weeks after she stopped breathing at the Microtel Inn on Aug. 1.
Judge Richard Foxworth found probable cause for the state to proceed with the case in superior court. Attorneys for the defendants offered no argument on their behalf.
The mother, shackled in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit, sniffled and shook her head side to side as the detective testified.
The cause of death is believed to be a traumatic brain injury and the condition commonly known as "shaken baby syndrome," Martin said. But Kamonie had many injuries: bruising on her face, buttocks and legs; hemorrhaging in her eye; and damage to the ribs.
“The bruising was the minor issue with this child,” Martin said. “The ribs were in a healing stage, some of them. Those happened prior to that day. And they weren’t caused, according to the medical examiner, by CPR.”
Because of the apparently older injuries, Martin wondered whether the child’s crying had been the result of pain or the cause.
A security camera at the hotel, where the Atlanta couple had been a few days, showed that Wilson suddenly came out of the room in "panic mode" looking for the child's mother shortly before calling 911.
But a clear picture of exactly what happened hasn’t emerged.
The boyfriend reportedly told Martin he feared the mother had done something to Kamonie. The mother told Martin she didn’t know what happened, but said she and Wilson disciplined the child, sometimes with a belt.
“Because it was crying all the time,” Martin said.
The detective paused briefly and looked down toward the carpet in the courtroom.
“I imagine so…” he said, trailing off.
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