This week, police said that a 3-year old boy died after being tortured by the adults responsible for his care. Jaquinn Brewton’s death was ruled a homicide when he was taken off life support. Police say that he was kicked, punched and had his hands, feet and rear end burned with a blowtorch. The boy’s god mother, 22-year old Nadera Batson was arrested and charged with murder. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, Marcus King, who has also been implicated in the boy’s death.

Capt. James Clark of the Philadelphia Police Department says that the investigation revealed that Jaquinn was left by his mother with Batson and King in March when she went to a homeless shelter with her other five children.

Jaquinn was found unconscious by police on June 29 when they were told that a child fell out of a window of a home in West Philadelphia. He was then taken to the hospital and left on life support until he died.

“The little boy took all the pain that he could until he couldn’t take it anymore,” Clark said. He also noted that the abuse took place every day, in a systematic fashion. The Department of Human Services was not involved in the case.

“It’s just unconscionable to think that someone would do this to a 3-year-old,” Clark said. “I have 22 years in the police department and this is one of the saddest cases I’ve seen.”