Father Indicted For Punching Toddler To Death In Marietta

NORTHEAST COBB, GA -- The father arrested for allegedly punching his 21-month-old son repeatedly in the head and ribs has been indicted in the child's death, Patch has learned. The recent move by a Cobb County grand jury means the felony murder case against Shomari Holmes, 21, will advance through the court system.

Holmes and the child's mother, Chantelle Driver, 22, were arrested in February on child cruelty charges in the incident, which happened in front of the woman's other children.

Police said that the toddler suffered internal bleeding in the attack in a Marietta apartment complex in the 2600 block of Bentley Road, as Patch previously reported.

Holmes, who reportedly made a video confession to police, was initially charged with aggravated battery, simply battery and cruelty to children. "The child's father admitted to punching his child in the ribs and head and said the accused witnessed him striking the child," the police report, which Patch obtained, says.

But when the baby was taken to Kennestone Regional Medical Center, then transferred to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in critical condition, where he hung on for a week before dying, Marietta police charged Holmes with murder.

Police said that Holmes also beat a 3-year-old girl with a belt and bit her on the arm. Driver, 22, is charged with deprivation of a minor and child cruelty. She was arrested for watching Holmes use "inappropriate means of discipline on her children" and doing nothing, WXIA reports.

According to the police report, officers found the baby after responding to a report of a juvenile being "non-responsive."
Read more: Cobb couple charged after infant severely beaten
Images via Cobb County Sheriff's Office