A Bed-Stuy man will spend up to 10 years in prison for fatally injuring his girlfriend’s four-month-old daughter while babysitting her in 2021, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Ricardo Price, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on April 12 and was sentenced on May 17 by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo to 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison for his role in the death of Royalty Kemp.
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Royalty died from abusive head trauma as a result of numerous injuries, including skull fractures with underlying hemorrhaging to the brain and parts of the spinal cord.
“Royalty Kemp was a precious infant entrusted by her mother to the defendant’s care. Instead of ensuring the child’s safety, he caused head injuries so severe she died,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. “With today’s sentence, the defendant has been held responsible for his horrific actions. Our hearts continue to be with the child’s mother and loved ones as they grieve her tragic loss.”
Price was babysitting the infant in an apartment at 93 Lewis Ave. on the night of June 22, 2021, after the child’s mother had entrusted him with her care for the evening.
According to the evidence presented by the DA’s office, Royalty was sitting in Price’s lap when she began to cry. In an effort to soothe her, Price repeatedly shook his leg, causing her to fall off his knee multiple times and strike her head against a video game controller in his hands.
The child’s mother returned on June 23 and noticed Royalty was lethargic and unable to eat, becoming unresponsive by that afternoon. The mother and Price brought her to Woodhull Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed a skull fracture. She was then transferred to Bellevue Hospital, where she died on July 2, 2021.
After Royalty’s death was ruled a homicide, the child’s grieving mother told the Daily News that Price had taken “an innocent child’s life for absolutely no reason.”
“He also asked me for forgiveness. I told him, ‘I don’t know how to do that, honestly,’” she added.
