A Florida woman has been sentenced to life in prison after she killed her 9-year-old cousin by sitting on her.
According to FOX News, the woman at the centre of the horrific crime Veronica Green Posey, 66, was found guilty of first-degree murder following the death of Dericka Lindsay in October, 2017.
It is understood that Posey who abused the little girl along with Dericka’s adoptive parents James and Grace Smith, killed the little girl by sitting on her for a full five minutes.
In testimony provided by the Assistant State Attorney Amy Shea, a shocked court were told that Dericka was subjected to relentless abuse by the family in order to punish her for acting out.
It is believed that on the night of her murder, Posey who weighs 22 stone – was called by Mrs Smith to come over and inflict yet another beating on Dericka after she acted out with her parents.
Although Posey arrived at the scene armed with a ruler and thin pipe, the 66-year-old woman who claimed to be helping her parents, decided to take matters into her own hands and forced to child to kneel on the seat of an arm chair before proceeding to sit on her.
In compelling evidence, the court was told that Dericka’s cause of death was due to suffocation.
They were also told that the little girl sustained a number of injuries including those consistent with that of a beating as a number of marks were found on Dericka’s rear end during her autopsy.
However despite claiming that she never intended on hurting Dericka, Posey was give a life sentence after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder.
Reports also say that James Smith is serving a 10 year sentence for his part in Dericka’s death.
Meanwhile Grace Smith is scheduled to appear in court charged charged in connection with her death, but her trial has been put on hold as she has been declared physically and mentally unfit to stand trial.