Prosecutor Charges Mother After Boyfriend Beats Her Child to Death

A Chicago woman is facing criminal charges after her boyfriend beat her 16-month-old son to death.

Dominique Smith, 24, was charged with endangering the life and health of a child, a felony, stemming from the death her son, Johnny Kimble. According to DNAInfo, on Jan. 6 Smith’s boyfriend Dantis Porter, 28, allegedly beat Johnny so severely he broke several ribs and caused internal bleeding. The boy died three days later at Comer Children’s Hospital as a result of his injuries.

When Porter was arrested, he reportedly told police he was angry because Johnny would not stop crying. During Porter’s initial court appearance, Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois called him a “monster.” He was charged on Jan. 22 with first-degree murder and held without bail.

On Monday, prosecutors also charged Smith, (who has three other children, ages 5, 4 and 2) telling the same judge her son had been injured before by Porter, but she refused to take him to a hospital because she thought he would be taken away. According to the Chicago Tribune, Smith previously left her children in Porter’s care only to later find injuries on Johnny. Prosecutors said she declined to take her son to a hospital despite pleas from relatives:

On Christmas Day, Smith took her baby son, Johnny “B.J.” Kimble, to his great-aunt’s house. When the great-aunt saw burns on B.J.’s hand, thigh and lower leg, she told Smith to take the boy to a hospital, prosecutors said. But Smith didn’t do that, authorities said.

Between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5, Smith continued to leave her children with Porter on the days she was scheduled to work. During that period she saw more burns on B.J.’s stomach and chest, thought to be from a space heater inside the home, according to court records.

Again, B.J. did not go to a hospital and Smith failed to check on him the following days that he was in Porter’s care, prosecutors said.

The injuries her son previously sustained were listed as secondary factors that contributed to his death, according to a coroner’s report.

Smith is currently being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. Judge Bourgeois also ordered that she have no contact with her children or any other children.