Justice has finally prevailed for 6-year-old Zymere Perkins. His mother’s ex-boyfriend Rysheim Smith has been found guilty on all counts of child abuse.
What We Know
- The ACS were supposed to look after Zymere’s welfare on five separate investigations but the organization failed the little boy. According to the state’s Office of Children and Family Services agency, ACS staffers failed to take action after seeing signs of abuse.
- Before he died, Zymere told an ACS supervisor that Smith made him take cold showers as a form of punishment. The little boy also said Smith beat him with a belt. Despite Zymere’s claims, the ACS failed to recognize the severity of the abuse he endured on a daily basis.
- On September 26, 2016, Zymere was brutally attacked by Rysheim Smith as his mother Geraldine Perkins looked on. The attack occurred after Smith became enraged at Zymere for defecating on the living room floor of Smith’s dirty cockroach infested apartment. Perkins remembers Zymere’s reaction to being berated on that grim night. “He was shaking,” Perkins said.
- Smith beat the child until he was unconscious. Then he hung Zymere on the back of the bathroom door by the collar of his shirt. Perkins did not check on her son for thirty minutes.
- When Zymere’s mother finally unhooked him from the door, she watched him fall to the ground like a tattered bathrobe. When the prosecutor asked Perkins what Zymere’s battered body looked like crumpled on the ground, Perkins said “Like he was dead,” without any emotion.
- After beating Zymere, Smith went out to get some food. Before he left, he told Perkins to clean up the apartment and read her bible. Thirty minutes passed before Zymere’s mother realized he wasn’t breathing.
- After making the discovery, she decided to take Zymere to the hospital but not before applying her makeup. When prosecutors asked why she applied makeup before getting help for her son, Perkins blamed her poor self image. “Because I’m very self-conscious [with] how I look outside.”
- Once Smith returned to the apartment, he instructed her to go to the hospital and say her son had food poisoning. Perkins also said Smith told her not to mention living at his Harlem apartment. When Perkins arrived at St. Lukes Hospital, Zymere was already dead. The little boy’s body was covered with injuries.
- Zymere’s autopsy report later revealed he died from Fatal Child Abuse Syndrome. Rysheim Smith faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life. Zymere’s mother Geraldine Perkins has acknowledged her role in the abuse and plead guilty to manslaughter and child endangerment. She could recieve 2-6 years in prison .
If you suspect a child you know is getting abused please contact your local authorities.
