Photo Courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office
A Texas woman was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, seven years after beating her 4-month-old to death.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced the life sentence on Tuesday in a press release.
“Our office stands up for all victims, but a baby is the most innocent of victims,” Ogg said. “We believed that a life sentence was appropriate for this brutal murder and a Harris County jury agreed.”
Tradezsha Trenay Bibbs, 29, contacted the police inside the Red Carpet Inn motel where she and the baby, Brielle Robinson, stayed on April 13, 2016, at 10:26 p.m.
Police and EMT arrived at the room five minutes later and found Robinson on the floor outside the bathroom her mother was inside.
As EMT performed CPR, they asked Bibbs what happened, to which she responded by stating the 4-month-old fell out of her car seat earlier that day. Emergency personnel transported Robinson to the Texas Children’s Hospital at 11:14 p.m.
She died the next day.
Doctors called the police after realizing the child’s life-threatening injuries contradicted the mother’s story. Additionally, they told police Bibbs didn’t seem interested when updating her about her daughter’s condition.
Police interviewed Bibbs numerous times, but she maintained her story. Eventually, the story changed to her feeling different the day of the incident, specifically postpartum depression. She explained further that she had stopped caring for her daughter.
Despite her doctors’ attempts to get her help before the baby’s death, she refused because she didn’t “believe in postpartum.”
Bibbs then confessed the horrific things she did to the innocent baby. Bibbs admitted to holding Robinson by the arms and bouncing her on the bed, only for the 4-month-old to bounce off the bed to the floor “two or three times.”
Bibbs would “pop” Robinson in her face and punch her in the ribs and chest to get her to stop crying. When Robinson didn’t show signs of breathing, Bibbs called for help.
Bibbs explained to police during interrogation that the child’s father left a month after she gave birth to Robinson. She brought her and the 4-month-old to live with her grandmother, who left, so Bibbs got a motel room.
Despite the postpartum depression explanation, Assistant District Attorney Keaton Forcht said he believed the father not wanting a relationship caused Bibbs to take her frustration out on the baby.
“Bibbs deserved a life sentence for what she did to her child,” Forcht said. “She beat her countless times and seemed to care about as much about the death of her daughter as she did about the life of her daughter.”