Atlanta Living category interest

DECATUR, Ga. — A Decatur woman has been sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison after being convicted of child abuse that led to the death of her 4-year-old son.

According to a press release from the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office, a jury convicted Malisha Sasfras, 26, for felony murder, three counts of cruelty to children in the first degree and two counts of aggravated battery. The charges related to the Feb. 2023 death of her son.

On Friday, a judge sentenced Sasfras.

According to the investigation, paramedics responded to a call around 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2023, about an unresponsive child at an apartment on Candler Road. First responders transported the boy to Children's Healthcare Of Atlanta, where he was pronounced dead.

Sasfras told officers her son had a headache that morning and returned to bed. In the afternoon, her other children noticed the 4-year-old would not wake up and was cold to the touch. She tried to wake the boy up, then called his father - co-defendant Javonte Harris - who convinced her to call 911.

CHOA doctors and nurses found extensive injuries, scars and bruises in various stages of healing on the boy's body. Some of the injuries were in the shape of a belt or cord. The boy also had a scar around his neck that appeared to be a ligature mark, blisters around his wrist as if his hands had been bound and a severe injury to his face.

An autopsy found that the boy had died from blunt force trauma to the head, which the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office determined likely occurred six to eight hours before the boy died.

Sasfras was the only adult home during that time but claimed she didn't know how the boy received the facial injury. She admitted to sometimes "whooping" her children but didn't provide any explanation for the many injuries the boy had.

Investigators obtained social media messages between Sasfras and Harris in which she repeatedly discussed beating the 4-year-old because he was wetting his bed or having accidents during the day.

On May 9, 2023, a DeKalb County Grand Jury indicted Harris on charges of murder in the second degree and cruelty to children in the second degree. The case is still pending.