The man who admitted to the fatal beating of four-year-old Aaron Benjamin Jr. was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Wednesday. The child’s lifeless body was found in the home he shared with his mother and her boyfriend, Kyle Christopher.
An autopsy performed by the V.I. Medical Examiner after Aaron’s death on Oct. 10, 2019 said the boy died from blunt force trauma. Both Christopher and Delicia Daniel — Aaron’s mother — were arrested and charged.
Daniel pleaded guilty to child abuse, and in October 2021, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Harold Willocks gave Christopher a similar penalty. He was sentenced to 24 years after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse; four years of that sentence was credited to time served.
Under the terms of the plea deal reached in April, the defendant faced up to a 30-year sentence. The judge did not impose a fine but ordered Christopher to pay court costs.
At the end of the hearing held at the R.H. Amphlett Leader Justice Complex at Kingshill on St. Croix, Christopher was returned to the custody of court marshals to continue serving his prison term.
