Duncan is charged with murder. His girlfriend, Tammyra Sampson, 30, is charged with injury to a child by omission, meaning she watched the abuse but did nothing to stop it.
"She said he wouldn't go to sleep so he'd get him on his knees and chest box him," said prosecutors in court.
Authorities say Duncan repeatedly punched Tekerrious, also known as "T.K.," in the chest area over an 8-hour time frame because the boy wouldn't go to sleep. "He would punch him over and over in the chest. And this lasted from 7pm until about some time after 3am," said Sgt. Brian Harris of HPD Homicide Division. The victim was taken by ambulance to the hospital after it appeared he had suffered a seizure. Once there, attending physicians noted severe trauma to Jackson's body.According to prosecutors, Sampson confessed to witnessing T.K. suffer more, even after the initial beatings.
"She said that when he needed to go to the bathroom and Duncan wouldn't let him go, that the little boy urinated on himself and got another beating," prosecutors said. At one point Sampson intervened, whipping the child's bottom with a belt to show Duncan the so-called proper way to punish the child, prosecutors say.The child usually lives with his biological mother, but was visiting his father for the summer. T.K.'s biological mother, who never knew her ex to be violent or abusive, says she will live tormented by regret for letting her son go away for the summer.
"If I would've known, I swear to God, I wouldn't have ever brought my baby there to begin with," said the boy's mother, Lucy Adams. "And if he was that much trouble, all he had to do was call me and I would've gone and gotten my baby.
"I would take his place. I would take his place so he could live. I would take his place," said Adams.Police say Duncan's girlfriend and her 11-year-old daughter watched the beating until the boy's body went limp. Only then did Sampson rush for help.
The girl told investigators for several days Duncan forced her to watch the series of beatings. Sampson's daughter re-enacted the horrific brutality for investigators. She has been placed in a safe home. CPS will pick up that investigation.
Duncan and Sampson are each being held on $50,000 bond. Duncan is due to appear in court again tomorrow.
