A 10-year-old girl has appeared in court in Wisconsin charged with killing a six-month-old boy.
She had dropped the baby who had started to cry, and in a panic the the girl stamped on the infant's head until he stopped, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported, quoting Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk of Chippewa County Sheriff's Office.
The youngster, who cannot be identified because of her age, appeared before Chippewa County Circuit Court on Monday – an adult court – because of the severity of the allegation.
Police were called to her home in the town of Wheaton on 30 October, which also serves as a childminding facility run by her foster care parents.
Officers found an unresponsive baby boy who was bleeding from the head.
The six-month-old was taken to Gillette Children's Hospital in Saint Paul, where he died two days later on 1 November.
"Later that afternoon the sheriff's department received a call from medical personnel, a doctor, attending this youth and indicated that his belief was that the injuries sustained by the six-month boy was not an accident," Sheriff Kowalczyk told KWQC-TV.
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He added the death was still under investigation.
The accused was accompanied by her biological parents in court, where Judge James Isaacson ordered her to be detained on a $50,000 (£38,280) cash bond.
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