NEW YORK, NY – A Brooklyn mother who beat and killed her 9-year-old daughter in May has been arraigned and charged with murder. Shemene Cato, 47, killed her daughter Shalom Guiffaro in their Crown Heights Apartment on May 15th, the indictment alleges.
New York City police officers reported on May 15, at approximately 8 a.m., inside the family’s fourth-floor apartment, located at 571 Lincoln Place, the defendant allegedly beat Shalom and another daughter, 13, with an electrical cord and a broom during an argument over a missing tablet.
According to court records, the beating lasted for approximately two hours. At one point, Shalom allegedly tried to escape the defendant by crawling under a bed. The defendant then allegedly lifted the bed and attempted to pull Shalom out from under it. The defendant is alleged to have dropped the bed, causing the leg to fall off, and the bed to fall on Shalom’s head.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “This horrific murder ended the life of a precious young child, allegedly at the hands of her own mother. The brutality of this attack shocks the conscience, and we are committed seeking accountability and justice.”
“According to the investigation, the defendant called 911 at 1 p.m., and EMS responded and performed CPR on Shalom, who was pronounced dead at 1:21 p.m. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later determined that the child suffered multiple blunt force impact injuries to her head, face, and body. The cause of death was blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office said. “The defendant’s 13-year-old daughter was taken to Brooklyn Hospital and treated for lacerations and contusions over her lower body.”
Cato is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree manslaughter, one count of first-degree attempted assault, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault, two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and four counts of second-degree menacing. She is being held without bail and was ordered to return to court on August 5, 2022.