A Texas mother has been sentenced to 40 years for beating her 5-year-old daughter to death.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced on Thursday that 24-year-old Andrea Webb falsely claimed her daughter fell to her death from an apartment balcony. Webb called the police to her apartment on March 9 of 2019, saying she fell from the second-story balcony.
"When police asked why the girl was bruised all over her body, Webb admitted that she lied and made up the story because she was scared that she might be charged with murder," said the district attorney's release. "She admitted that she had repeatedly beaten the girl with belts and made her sit against the wall without the support of a chair for hours at a time and would beat her if she could not do the “wall sits.”
Webb and her boyfriend, Devon Gibson, were arrested and his case is still pending at this time.
“Children are the most vulnerable and most innocent victims that we see in the criminal justice system, and a parent’s duty is to protect them, not violently beat them,” Ogg said.
The young child died from "a consellation" of older and new blunt-force injuries, including patterned and looped scars, contusions and lacerations that resulted in pulmonary fat embolism, acute kidney injury and evidence of systematic stress response.
“This physical abuse went on for a long period of time and didn’t just happen on one day,” Sawtelle said. “The little girl’s body just couldn't take it anymore."
