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Badara Kone (Delaware State Police).
In a tragic incident in Delaware, a 10-year-old girl was helped to bed by her brothers after their father allegedly beat her so severely with a belt that she fell and suffered a fatal head injury, police report.
The Delaware State Police have identified the victim as Fatima Kone. According to a press release, the girl’s father, 49-year-old Badara Kone, is accused of murdering her at their Smyrna residence.
Following the assault, the girl’s siblings assisted her to her bedroom, but emergency services were not called until much later, the statement reveals.
Fatima was discovered lifeless in her room just after 2 a.m. on May 28, prompting authorities to respond to the family’s home on Oakwynn Circle. Initial investigations indicate that on May 27, Badara Kone allegedly struck Fatima multiple times with a leather belt as a form of what he described as discipline, according to the police report.
During the beating, Fatima reportedly fell and hit her head on a piece of furniture, the report states. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy determined that her death was a homicide, resulting from multiple blunt-force injuries.
Cops say Fatima’s two brothers, ages 15 and 11, were the ones who helped bring her to bed after Kone’s alleged fatal beating. “Detectives obtained evidence supporting that the children had been continuously physically abused,” the DSP release says about Fatima and her siblings.
The boys were taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary wellness checks, and that’s when the alleged abuse was uncovered.
Kone was arrested that same day for the “abuse of the male children” and Fatima’s death, according to DSP officials. He was charged with two felony counts of continuous child abuse, eight counts of fourth-degree child abuse, and murder.
Kone remained in custody Tuesday on a $180,000 cash bond.