A California dad who tortured and beat his 4-year-old daughter into a vegetative state during time-out was convicted of torture and assault by a jury Tuesday.
Tekquan Alexander, 28, was also found guilty of corporal injury to a child, and the judge and jury found true all special allegations and aggravating factors, including the victim being vulnerable, Alexander taking advantage of a position of trust, and causing great bodily injury to a child under five, in connection with the brutal beating of his child, Alani Watts, according to the Ventura County District Attorney.
"Alani faces a future filled with unimaginable challenges due to the defendant's reprehensible conduct, but today's verdict holds him accountable and brings a measure of justice to her and to all those profoundly affected by this case," Deputy District Attorney Rikole Kelly said in a statement.
Speaking with The Shade Room in 2022, the victim's mother, Keyonna Watts said she sent her daughter from their home in Atlanta to visit her father, Alexander, in Thousand Oaks, California in November 2021.
During the visit, Watts said she received a disturbing phone call from her ex.
"He told me that Alani passed out standing in timeout," she told the outlet. "When I asked him how she passed out, he really wasn't answering me."
Alexander called 911, and Watts met her daughter at the hospital where she was being treated for extensive bleeding of her brain, spine injuries, broken bones, cuts and bruises.
Speaking with police, Alexander described his toddler as a "bed wetter."
"When she wets the bed, he punishes her by making her do rigorous exercises with an element of physical abuse, like hitting with boxing gloves, hitting her with a belt and hitting her with a speaker wire," investigators said in court documents obtained by TSR read.
Before Alani was brutally beaten, Alexander confessed she "wet the bed, so he made her do wall planks and he gave her a whooping with a belt. During this whooping with the belt, the child tried to protect herself by moving a stereo speaker in front of her to block the father's actions. The father then proceeded to take the speaker wire and whoop her with that, then have her do more rigorous exercises while he drew her a bath," according to the documents.
"When he found his child was having seizure-like symptoms, and appeared to be losing consciousness, he put her in the bath in an effort to revive her. That did not work. He called 911."
Alexander will be sentenced Dec. 12.
He faces up to life in prison.
