Jun 12, 2008 7:38 pm US/Eastern
Beaten 3-Year-Old's Family Speaks To CBS 2 HD
Father, Grandmothers Plan Extended Fight For Justice
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Kyle Smith's family members plan on making sure the people responsible for the 3-year-old's death pay for what they did.
CBS
With his three short years filled with abuse, little Kyle Smith never knew what a loved little boy he was, or how his family – his birth father and grandparents – fought to protect him to his dying day.
It's an agony they must live with in the wake of his death, and on Wednesday night in an exclusive interview, they told CBS 2 HD they will continue to fight for Kyle and for justice against those responsible for his death.
It is hard for many of us to understand, perhaps, what went wrong here. How a 3-year-old boy was killed. Why a grandmother is beside herself with grief and now wants a babysitter to pay.
"She had no right to do it to my grandson," maternal grandmother Beverly Creighton said. "I will kill her right there in the courtroom!"
"She wanted to ... she thought it was her child and I told her, 'this is not your child; this is our child. This is temporary,'" paternal grandmother Norma Acosta added.
"Temporary" turned out to be a death penalty for 3-year-old Kyle Smith, because about a year ago Kyle was given to a 30-year-old friend, Nymeen Cheatham, and her 25-year-old boyfriend, Lemar Martin, to take care of without the rest of this family knowing while Creighton's daughter and Kyle's mother, Gina, went to South Carolina.
There is a father in this story. He was about 18, and Gina 16, when they had their first boy. Three years later, Kyle came along. Maybe that's why they trusted people like these.
When asked by CBS 2 HD is he was being naïve, Elliot Smith stumbled for the right thing to say.
"Well, I did try to take my son," he finally said. "We did try as much as we could."
Elliot Smith went to family court in November, but without a lawyer. Frankly, he was overwhelmed. Gina's mother says Elliot is a good father. And maybe his 6-year-old is alive because Gina left him with Elliot and his mother.
When asked if the older brother knows what happened to Kyle, Elliot said, "Yes, two days ago. I had to break it to him. I told him as much as I could to comfort him. It's okay to cry."
Now they are explaining to the boy that they are getting ready for a funeral.
CBS 2 HD has learned that the two people in custody for the death of Kyle Smith will probably be indicted as early as Thursday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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