DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffalo, New York - 2005)

Custodial father JAMES E. KENT hit his three-year-old son in the stomach repeatedly, till the child died from cardiac arrest. In Dad's opinion, the three-year-old just hadn't gone to bed fast enough.

Although Kent had been investigated for child abuse before, Kent managed to get FULL CUSTODY of the three-year-old and his twin brother from a previous relationship. Needless to say, the last word goes to the moronic neighbor: "I thought he was a very nice guy."

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050330/1069175.asp


Father first told police boy, 3, fell off dresser
Blow to stomach caused his death
By VANESSA THOMAS News Staff Reporter
3/30/2005

First, James E. Kent told police that his 3-year-old son Joshua injured himself accidentally when he fell off the dresser, police said.

Then, police say, he said the dresser fell on his son in their Eller Street home. Police said he later admitted to hitting the child as a form of discipline.

Buffalo homicide investigators said Kent, 39, used a plastic cutting board with a handle to strike his son repeatedly in the stomach - blows so fierce that they sent the boy into cardiac arrest and eventually led to his death.

Doctors said that if Joshua had survived, he would never would have walked again, police reported.

Kent is in Erie County Holding Center on a charge of second-degree murder. He was arrested Monday.

Joshua died in Sunday night Women and Children's Hospital. Autopsy results showed that he died of blunt force trauma.

"This was his idea of corporal punishment," said Anthony J. Barba, the Buffalo Police Department's chief of investigative services. "He was reportedly spanking him because he didn't go fast enough to bed. He said he hit him just once, but it had to be more than that. His story was inconsistent from the very beginning."

"We don't think this is the first time that he has beaten this child," he added. "I believe this father was abusing his child before this, but he didn't think it was abuse. A lot of times, discipline crosses over into abuse."

Barba said Kent had beaten his son with the cutting board on several occasions. Police said Child Protective Services workers visited the Eller Street home at least twice to investigate child abuse complaints.

Joshua is the second such case this month. On March 18, 6-month-old Marreon Smith suffered an apparent fractured skull, allegedly when assaulted by his father, Marquel Smith, 26, in the family's Leslie Street home. Smith also is in the holding center on a charge of second-degree murder.

Kent, his fiancee, whom police declined to name, and his twin sons from another relationship - Joshua and James Jr. - lived at 105 Eller, a single-family home near Genesee Street.
Kent had full custody of his twins. Since his father's arrest, James Jr. has been living with family members, authorities said.

Police said both children were born premature and were developmentally delayed. Family members told police the children were receiving treatment at the Robert Warner Rehabilitation Center at Women and Children's Hospital.

Just after 9 p.m. last Wednesday, homicide investigators said Kent's fiancee called 911, reporting that a child was unresponsive and limp.

When paramedics arrived at the home, the boy had no pulse and was rushed to Women and Children's, where doctors revived him, and he underwent surgery.

After four days of treatment in the pediatric critical care unit, doctors deemed his condition so dire that life support was discontinued, homicide investigators said. Joshua died Sunday night. During a brief arraignment before Buffalo City Court Judge Thomas P. Amodeo, bail was denied and Kent was assigned a court-appointed attorney. He is scheduled to appear at a felony hearing Friday.

On Tuesday, residents on Eller said they were surprised. Several neighbors said they recall Kent cleaning his yard, waving to neighbors and dutifully escorting his twins to the school bus when it arrived on weekdays.

"I'm shocked," said one woman who has lived on the street for 25 years. "The way he used to take care of those kids, I thought he was a very nice guy."