The mother of a 9-year-old Brooklyn girl tossed a bed on her daughter after beating her — then repeatedly ignored pleas of “mommy help me” before the young girl died, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Shemene Cato, 48, brutally attacked little Shalom Guifarro and her 13-year-old sister for two hours before mortally injuring her daughter on Sunday, Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney David Ingle said at the mom’s arraignment.
The prosecutor said it wasn’t until the older girl snuck off and called 911 that cops showed up at the Crown Heights home and found Shalom.
“As detailed in the complaint, a doctor at the medical examiner’s office determined that Shalom suffered multiple blunt force impact injures about the head and body, resulting in internal bleeding which ultimately caused the death of Shalom,” Ingle said.
Cato was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge and ordered held without bail by Judge Simiyon Haniff, who also issued an order of protection for the older girl.
“Miss Cato, I noticed your head has been down but I want you to make sure you heard and understand,” Haniff told Cato, who burst into tears in court.
Police had responded to Cato’s home in Crown Heights around 1 p.m. on Sunday and found the girl badly bruised and lifeless inside the apartment.
According to the dead girl’s sister, Shalom was “spanked” by her mom and put in time out after a temper tantrum before she was found unresponsive, police said.
Prosecutors said in a complaint filed Tuesday that Cato allegedly beat her two daughters over a missing computer tablet, prompting Shalom to flee and hide under the bed.
Cato then lifted the bed and dropped it on her younger daughter’s head, then ignored the girl’s pleas for help as she bled internally, the complaint said.
Cops had visited the apartment 14 times before for domestic violence reports — most involving Cato complaining about alleged harassment by her ex, records show.
Officials said city child services had not been involved with the family in the past.
Nonetheless, neighbors told The Post that the family could often be heard arguing.
“I heard a lot of screaming and fighting from the apartment,” neighbor Jason Rahimzadeh said Monday. “I heard loud arguments at least 10 times, where they were screaming at the top of their lungs. The family kept to themselves.
“Everyone in the building is so nice and calm, but we all knew that apartment was trouble.”
Bart Hubbuch, who owns the bar near the apartment, said Cato consistently yells at the kids.
“Their mother frequently cussed them out and wouldn’t let them play with the other kids on the block,” said Hubbuch.
Cato works for the city Human Resources Administration, with her union picking up the tab for the lawyer’s legal fees, according to sources.
The lawyer, Edward Mandery of Brooklyn Defender Services, declined to comment as he left the courthouse Tuesday.
