A father accused of beating his 2-year-old son to death while blackout drunk in a Queens homeless shelter has now been charged with murder, court records show.
Dayvon Morrison, 30, was charged with two counts of murder and acting in a manner injurious to a child for the savage assault that left his son, Maliek, with severe brain damage and numerous other injuries on Jan. 30.
Maliek lingered on the edge of death for five days before succumbing to his injuries on Feb. 4.
“My baby is gone,” little Maliek’s mother, Cyndy Williams, posted on Instagram following his death. “I have nothing else to say. I’m done.”
Morrison was arrested the day before his son died and charged with attempted murder. The charges against him were upgraded in the wake of the toddler’s death.
He is due to be arraigned on the enhanced charges before Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant at Queens Supreme Criminal Court on Feb. 27.
Courtesy of Cyndy Williams
Maliek is pictured in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Cyndy Williams)
Maliek was staying with his father at the Manhattan View Hotel, which is being used as a homeless shelter, on 21st St. near 38th Ave. in Long Island City, when he was attacked, cops said.
After spending a night in the hotel-turned-shelter with his son on Friday, Jan. 30, Morrison woke up the next morning to Maliek’s face covered in bruises — but did not seek medical help, prosecutors said. He later told cops he must have hit Maliek the night before, but that he’d been drinking and couldn’t recall what happened, according to court papers.
By that Sunday, Maliek’s condition had worsened but Morrison still didn’t seek medical help, prosecutors say.
Early Monday, when the dad returned his other child to their home in East Harlem, witnesses alarmed at little Maliek’s deteriorating condition called police, according to court papers.
Medics rushed Maliek to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell where he was treated for a blown right pupil, fractured pelvis, lacerations to his liver and brain damage, court documents state.
