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Caretaker, 9-year-old charged after 4-year-old beaten to death with broomstick

Yolanda Denise Coale, 53, was arrested Thursday after a 4-year-old boy in her custody was allegedly fatally beaten by his 9-year-old sister, Mobile police say.
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An Alabama woman has been charged with aggravated child abuse after a 4-year-old boy in her custody was allegedly beaten to death with a broomstick by his 9-year-old sister, who has also been charged, court records show.

Yolanda Denise Coale, 53, was arrested Thursday after Mobile police found the young boy unresponsive at her home, court records said.

Coale told police that she woke up Thursday to the boy screaming as he was being hit with a broom by his sibling, according to an arrest report that described Coale as an aunt and caretaker.

The 9-year-old girl, “Did willfully torture, willfully abuse, cruelly beat or otherwise willfully maltreat said child by striking the child with a broom stick and/or other dangerous instrument, causing serious physical injury,” police wrote in a probable cause report for Coale’s arrest.

The 9-year-old has been charged with assault, records show.

Coale’s arrest report also noted the boy had past injuries and signs that indicated long-term abuse but said it was unclear how he got those injuries, NBC affiliate WPMI in Mobile reported.

An attorney listed as representing Coale could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

Online records with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office show Coale was in jail Wednesday afternoon, with bail set at $150,000.

Mobile police and a representative with the county district attorney’s office could not be immediately reached Wednesday.