Parents Get Decades for Killing 6-Year-Old Son

The couple that battered and starved their 6-year-old son leading to his death will spend at least the next 30 years behind bars.

Philadelphia Common Please Judge Barbara McDermott sentenced Tina Cuffie and Latiff Hadi each to 30 to 60 years behind bars for the murder of their son Khalil Wimes.

In court Tuesday, McDermott issued 20 to 40 years mandatory sentences to each parent for third-degree murder and 10 to 20 years for conspiracy with the penalties running consecutively, according to court records.

In September, McDermott found Cuffie and Hadi guilty of third-degree murder, conspiracy and child endangerment in the March 2012 death of Wimes. No further penalty was given for the endangerment charges and both parents will get credit for time already served.

It was ruled that Wimes, who weighed just 29 pounds at the time of his death, died due to blunt force trauma and malnutrition, which prosecutors say was the culmination of months of starvation and abuse.

At trial, siblings testified that Wimes had to endure beatings, run laps and stand in the corner for hours because of his frequent vomiting.

Police say Cuffie, 45, told them on March 19, 2012 that Wimes fell when getting out of a tub. She allegedly hit him on the back of the head, causing him to become disoriented. She also allegedly told police that she often hit him because he was misbehaving or messing up. Finally, police say she confessed to not letting him out of the house for a month and that he was underweight because he wouldn’t drink water.

In court, Cuffie's lawyers disputed that alleged confession.

Wimes had spent his first three years in foster care before he was returned to Hadi, 50, and Cuffie.

They face 20 to 40 years in prison when they are sentenced by McDermott today.

Wimes was the second-youngest of his mother's 11 children. At least five were removed from her care.

Investigators say a DHS worker had been in Wimes' home before Wimes died to check on another visiting child. After the incident Mayor Michael Nutter announced that worker had been relieved of duty pending an investigation.

“I find it extremely troubling that someone from the outside would have seen this child within a few weeks of his death and not made any reports,” said Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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