Man accused of toddler's murder blames 8 year old son ~Rest in peace Brianna Kichelle Hester~

BRUNSWICK — It was father vs. son as Glynn County jurors heard conflicting testimony Tuesday about how 17-month-old Brianna Hester received fatal head injuries last year.

Today, the five-man, nine-woman jury will begin deliberating the innocence or guilt of Daryl Keon Jones in Brianna's death.

Jones looked jurors in the eye Tuesday as he denied choking and repeatedly slamming the crying toddler face-first into the floor while baby-sitting her and his three children at their Brunswick apartment on April 30, 2009.

He testified that his son, Alijha Keon Jones then 8, must have inflicted the fatal injuries to Brianna.

Jones, 33, testified after prosecutors rested the state's case following testimony from Alijha, now 10, who said he saw his father hurting Brianna then begging her 'wake up' when she stopped breathing.

"No sir, I did not," Jones testified when his lawyer, James Yancey Jr., asked if he had killed Brianna or had choked her or slammed her head into the floor.

"I really love my kids and have been taking care of kids all my life. She was just like one of my own kids," Jones said.

Brianna, he testified, frequently fell while trying to walk, injuring herself on the floor and furniture.

"A lot of the bruises were from her falling and her hitting the table," Jones told the jury.

She also hurt herself on a bent slat in her playpen, he said.

Under cross-examination, Jones said the only other way Brianna could have been mortally injured was if Alijha did hurt her.

On Monday, Edmund Donoghue, Georgia Bureau of Investigation regional medical examiner, testified Brianna had 36 separate face and neck injuries including at least one high-impact injury typically found in car crash victims.

Jones faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Brianna, the daughter of Kim Hester, who was his live-in girlfriend at the time. Hester was attending nursing school in Jacksonville, when her daughter was mortally injured.

The toddler died May 1, 2009, in a hospital when her mother allowed doctors to take her off life support.

Jones said he is a disabled Army veteran who needs dialysis because both his kidneys have failed. Because his disability limited him to non-strenuous work, Jones said, he often cared for Brianna, even dressing up to play with her.

Alijha Jones, however, offered jurors a different view of his father and his care of Brianna, whom he said he considered a sister.

The fourth-grader sat up straight as he testified in a voice so soft that Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison had him hold a portable microphone close to his mouth.

Alijha contradicted himself about the sequence of some events as he answered Assistant District Attorney Katie Udy's questions and later Yancey's under cross-examination.

The boy, however, gave the jury substantially the same account as he had told Glynn County police Sgt. Bill Daras and Doreen Myers of the Golden Isles Children's Advocacy Center in separate interviews.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• child
• abuse
• murder
• Rest
• in
• peace
• Brianna
• Kichelle
• Hester

[DevonteThatDon]

(First) This happened in 2010? R.I.P Brianna :(

[newsiegirl2008]

@DevonteThatDon April 30, 2009

[wirelessworldinc]

This is so sad, such a beautiful little girl.

[gloryb1970]

Such b s coming from this stepfather . It's such a repeated story, either the boyfriend or stepfather. I'm so sick of hearing their lies and blaming the other kids.

[MsWHITEGIRL123]

I AM SORRY FOR THEY LOST I REALLY AM



[MyMadra]

the man who killed her should get the death penalty( I'd gladly kill him myself), really pisses me off when I hear about cases like this where little kids are murdered. Poor little girl :(

[MsScarlettoe]

so sad

[shellymayson]

if you go on TOPIX in the Brunswick, Ga forum you will get the whole story.

[KelseyGotSwaqqa101]

What person does this? If I was the parent of this baby, I couldn't resist saying " shut up " to the baby. That beautiful baby should've never deserved that. She was so cute.

Her father should burn in hell!

R.I.P Brianna.

Gone, but never forgotten. (:

[z0mbi3ali3n]

Omg she was so beuttiful and inocent why wuld any coward or any body heart babies and children why theise dume ass worthless cold hearted bad ass parents thats killing thiere babies and children they need to be tortured and murderd just like they did thies inocent babies my heart goes out to all the babies and kids thats been murderd and abused:....(

[swimdestiny]

:..( I am so sorry Brianna but I know you are happy in the heavens with your Father.. And I pray for children in the world with failure parents who don't know how to care for their children

[123thebestest]

She was sooo adorable Rest in paradise baby Brianna