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NEW YORK (77WABC) – A Harlem man was sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison on Monday after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s six-year-old son.
Rysheim Smith was convicted by a jury in Manhattan Supreme Court in January 2020 over the beating to death of Zymere Perkins back in 2016. His sentencing was postponed from March of last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a press release from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, police who responded to the death found that the apartment Zymere was living in did not have electricity, had large amounts of mold, rust, and mildew, and was infested with cockroaches and other vermin. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner ruled Zymere’s death was caused by “fatal child abuse syndrome due to both acute and chronic injuries”.
The little boy’s mother, Geraldine Perkins, pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal to cooperate with police.
According to the Daily Mail, Zymere died after being waterboarded, beaten, and hung in Smith’s apartment, leaving the boy with more than 30 fractured ribs. Pieces of a broken broomstick and shower curtain rod were shown to be items used to beat the little boy. The Mail reported Perkins testified that she regularly abused Zymere and deprived him of food and water as a form of punishment, which she said was encouraged by Smith.
The Administration for Children’s Services had five investigations of alleged abuse of Zymere over a number of years, but those investigations were ignored, in a report from the New York Post.
