Man Beats Toddler to Death For “Acting Like a Girl”
Man Beats Toddler to Death on Shinnecock Reservation
A 20-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter yesterday in connection to the fatal beating of a 17-month-old boy. Pedro Jones was babysitting his girlfriend’s child at the Shinnecock Indian Reservation on Sunday, and killed him “by striking him several times throughout his body with his closed fists and grabbing him by the neck,” according to court documents. When asked why, Jones said, “I was trying to make him act like a boy instead of a little girl.”
I want to say up front, we can’t possibly know whether the infant would have grown up to be trans, so I don’t think speculation or discussion along those lines will be productive. What is important is that Pedro Jones saw the possibility of a toddler who was assigned male at birth possibly growing up to be a cis gay man or a trans woman as sufficient reason to beat him violently enough to kill him. That he perceived a 17-month old child as violating expected gender role behavior and that this perceived behavior needed to be punished and eradicated.
This is sickening on so many levels.
The baby is dead, yet this man has the gaul to plead not guilty, feeling that punching and throtling is approriate punishment for percieved feminitity.
A baby is dead, as the results of the actions of this thing, this evil creature. This dopplganger that appears to be human.
There is no excuse for deliberatly hitting a child.
There is no excuse for killing a child.
A baby, a baby that isn’t even two years old. A baby that has no hope of defending itself, no hope of escape, or calling for help.
What’s worse, he also says “I never struck that kid that hard before” indicating that he may have struck this kid, or other kids before.
If I continue typing I fear I may end up ranting, so I shall stop.
Jenny
4 Aug 10 at 5:15 am
Wow. This is so disturbing.
His not guilty plea “I never struck that kid that hard before. A one-time mistake and I am going to do 20 years” makes me want to smack him in the face. His “one time mistake” just ended the life of a 17 month old baby, for a reason that doesn’t even make any sense. A true sociopath.
Kait
4 Aug 10 at 7:41 am
for me reading this is re-igniting the hurt and shock I felt one TDOR many years ago. I volunteered to read names, which were given at random, and the name I read was that of a three-year-old child, assigned male at birth. the father killed the child for the same reason Pedro gave. the father said he didn’t want to raise a “sissy”.
the Prop 8 proponents and their ilk are constantly saying that the gays are bad for their own children, and are a threat to others’ children. the same is said, in other contexts, about all trans people. so far as I can tell, it is the transphobia/homophobia and hatred of femininity that is actually costing the lives of children.
so, so angry and sad right now…
MHS
4 Aug 10 at 7:59 am
This makes me so sad and frustrated. A man who kills a child for any reason is the lowest sort of individual. A man who believes the percieved feminine behavior of a 17-month-old infant is justification for beating and killing the child is the lowest and most delusional of individuals. It won’t help the mother get her child back, but I sincerely hope that he is convicted and given the harshest possible sentence.
SarahC
4 Aug 10 at 8:33 pm
what on earth could a 1.5 year old be doing that would count as girly? last time i babysat a kid that young she mostly just got into EVERYTHING. and wanted whatever it was i was playing with. (my phone/laptop)
sophi
10 Aug 10 at 10:58 am
Yeah, I know. It seems pretty unlikely. I don’t think kids really start the gendered behavior until 3-4ish?
But the problem isn’t whether the child did something girly or not, but that the idea that doing something girly is worthy of punishment.
Lisa Harney
10 Aug 10 at 11:02 am
I am a staunch death penalty opponent, and I have attended death penalty protest rallies. But this… this…
Left alone in a room with that hideous excuse for a person for 15 minutes or so… let’s just say I’m the only one that would walk out alive. Let’s see how he likes being beaten to death with my fists.
Signed, one disgusted transman.
Calvin
14 Aug 10 at 3:50 pm