Brooklyn Mom Denied Bail In Fatal 2-Hour Beating Of 9-Year-Old: DA

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The 9-year-old beaten to death in Crown Heights last weekend spent her last moments hiding underneath the bed from her mother, who was arraigned Tuesday on a murder charge, according to prosecutors and court records.

Shemene Cato, 48, stands accused of beating her daughter Shalom Guifarro, 9, with an electrical cord and broom for about two hours Sunday in their Lincoln Place home near Franklin Avenue, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.

Cato also dropped a bed on her daughter when the 9-year-old tried to flee her mother by crawling underneath it, according to court records.

"[Cato] lifted the bed and attempted to pull [Shalom] out from under the bed," the criminal complaint reads.

"But [Cato] dropped the bed causing the leg to fall off the bed and the bed to fall on the head of Shalom Guifarro."

Shalom — who had cuts and bruises on her body — died of internal bleeding from the blunt-force impact, the medical examiner told authorities.

She was found dead in the fourth-floor apartment after the owner of the restaurant below called police to report a foul odor coming from above, according to reports.

The 9-year-old lived in the apartment with her mother, 13-year-old sister and two dogs, according to reports.

It appears Shalom's sister, who prosecutors say was also a victim of the abuse, recounted the beating to authorities as court records show they spoke to a 13-year-old with the same last name.

Cato was notorious in the neighborhood as an overprotective mother who was often seen yelling at her children, neighbors told the Times.

She also faces manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment of a child and a weapons charge for the homicide, according to police.