Joshua Collins
22 months old
Kicked to death
Joshua was kicked to death
by his mother, Mary Lee Collins, just hours after she had given birth to
a third child. The day before Joshua died she had been placed on probation
for child abuse stemming from an earlier charge. Joshua had been removed
from his mother's care and returned to her a month before she killed him.
State child care workers
said they did their best to protect an abused child but they also acknowledged
not taking further action before Joshua died. Social workers did not interview
neighbors who now say they saw Joshua covered with bruises and heard him
screaming at night. They also did not examine him away from his mother
and they did not visit his home in the final days before he died.
Collins has been charged
with first-degree murder and is awaiting trial. Her boyfriend, Raymond
Leet, was found guilty of third-degree murder. Although he did not strike
the blow that killed Joshua he knew for months that his mother battered
him, but did nothing to try to stop it.
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