GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Duluth man is spending his life behind bars after a Gwinnett County jury found him guilty of a toddler's brutal murder.
According to the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office, Mallik Kennedy, 27, was convicted last Thursday of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated battery and first-degree cruelty to children for the death of 2-year-old Trinity Kyles.
The verdict occurred on the three-year anniversary of the incident, and Kyles would have turned 5 last month, according to a release.
On May 2, 2021, Kyles' mother asked her boyfriend, Kennedy, to watch her child when she went to work. But she arrived home to a sight that would make any mother's heart halt -- her daughter was unresponsive.
Kennedy initially told the mother he'd given the toddler melatonin to help her go to sleep. However, when she found bruising on her daughter's body, she pressed her boyfriend, who then confessed he had pinched the toddler on the cheeks for misbehaving, according to a release.
At the trial, it was revealed that Kennedy slammed the child's head against the headboard in the hotel room they were staying in until she became unconscious. When she woke up two hours later, he shook her until she again lost consciousness.
He then observed while Kyles appeared to have a seizure and wiped the blood away from her mouth. But instead of calling her mother or seeking help, he then drank alcohol, smoked marijuana, played video games and watched social media, according to a release.
Kennedy has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said.
The county's district attorney, Patsy Austin-Gaston, said they continue to grieve with the family for this loss and hope the verdict can bring some closure.
"Although this verdict and sentencing cannot replace this little girl's future or quell her family's pain, our hope is that it brings them justice and provides them with some solace," Austin-Gatson said.
