A mother left her 2-year-old child with her boyfriend, thinking nothing would go wrong. But as soon as she returned, she found a tragic scene that is any parent’s worst nightmare.
Once Ashley King started dating Quran Jabari Mitchell, she never thought that she would be facing the horrific and devastating ordeal she would soon encounter. She trusted this man with her most prized possession, her 2-year-old son, Joshua Isaiah Lockhart Jr. What she discovered was one of the most horrific scenes any parent could face.
The Star Tribune reports that 22-year-old Quran was arrested and charged with the gruesome murder of the toddler left in his care after subjecting the innocent boy to 2 months of abhorrent physical abuse. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office confirmed that the child succumbed to his horrific injuries at the Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis after Quran delivered “blunt force injuries” in his Crystal home.
Joshua tragically died from severe head wounds and other injuries while in the sole care of Quran just 9 days after his second birthday. An autopsy confirmed that the child sustained fatal head injuries, eye injuries, and substantial bruising on his left arm, shoulder, forehead, cheek, and ear. Quran reportedly beat Joshua to death in an apartment he was renting but had subjected the boy to at least 2 months of unimaginable torture.
Fortunately, Quran was sentenced on December 28 to 40 years in prison, despite entering a plea deal, according to KSTP. Quran pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for his initial first-degree murder count reduction last month. Additionally, he admitted to exploiting the boy’s vulnerability, abusing a position of authority, invasion of a child’s safety, and particularly cruel murder. As such, his sentence was raised from the typical 14 years to 4 decades.
Quran attempted to convince the police that while he did occasionally physically abuse Joshua, he would hit him with a flip-flop “no more than five times” and was certain that he didn’t hit the toddler too hard. He admitted to beating Joshua since the child mother moved in with him 2 months earlier.
Disturbingly, less than a month before Joshua’s death, Quran had been sentenced to 90 days for a misdemeanor domestic assault conviction. However, the incarceration that would’ve saved young Joshua’s life was postponed by Hennepin County Judge Bruce Peterson.
