Boyfriend who beat 6-year-old Zymere Perkins to death is sentenced

HARLEM, NYC- A man found guilty of beating his girlfriend’s son to death in 2016 was sentenced to prison Monday.

Rysheim Smith was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the death of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins.

Smith had been dating Perkins mother at the time of his murder.

Smith used a broom handle and a curtain rod to beat Perkins inside of a bathroom. After brutally beating Perkins, Smith then hung the badly injured boy in the back of the bathroom door.

The medical examiner ruled Perkins died by fatal child abuse syndrome due to both acute and chronic injuries.

Smith was convicted of murder, manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of a child in Jan. of 2020.

The Children’s Administration for Children’s Services failed Perkins, whose mother was investigated 5 times after teachers and neighbors were concerned for the boy and contacted them.

Perkins showed up to with broken , a broken jaw, fractured ribs and bruises, but was never removed from his home.

Both Smith and Perkins’ mother had been abusing the boy over a period of about 15 months, according to court documents.

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