NORFOLK, Va. – Kasiam Tinsley was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months of active time in prison for two convictions of child abuse and neglect stemming from his 9-month-old daughter’s death.
Kasiam A. Tinsley
Tinsley will be required to serve 15 years of uniform good behavior, indeterminate supervised probation and a prohibition on being around juveniles under 13 years old.
He was originally charged with second degree murder, two counts of child abuse and neglect, one count of malicious wounding and one count of child cruelty in the death of Makayla Smith, who was found unresponsive in November 2018. All charges except the counts of child abuse and neglect were dismissed in July.
A medical examiner ruled Smith’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. In court in early March, the assistant chief medical examiner testified that the child also had brain hemorrhaging, brain bleeding, bruises and abrasions.
It was also discovered that there was almost nothing in the child’s stomach.
A child abuse expert from the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters testified that the child’s injuries are consistent with what she often sees in abuse cases.
