Through the afternoon and evening of June 6, 2020, Derrick Brown screamed and cried and begged for the beating to stop until he couldn’t any longer, his little sister told a jury Wednesday, Oct. 19.
One of the people hurting 12-year-old Derrick at the family’s Augusta apartment was Clarence Brown, the child testified. Brown, 39, is standing trial this week in Richmond County Superior Court on charges of murder and cruelty to children.
Her mother, Jasmine Camp, also beat Derrick that day, the now 13-year-old child told the jury. Camp, 34, has pleaded guilty to murder. She was sentenced to life in prison last month.
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Derrick’s offense on June 6, 2020, was taking a jelly packet because he was hungry. Brown was mad, cussing and yelling, Derrick’s sister testified. Brown grabbed Derrick by his hair and snatched him from the bed. He also punched Derrick, causing the child to lose control of his bladder. Instead of allowing the boy to clean up and change clothes, Brown made Derrick stand in the corner in his wet underwear, his sister testified.
When her mother came home everything escalated, Derrick’s sister testified. She beat Derrick, too. Later Derrick was forced to do wall squats while holding books in each outstretched arm. Camp went to take a bath and Brown took over the punishment.
Derrick was crying, “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” Brown said, “I don’t care,” Derrick’s sister said. When Derrick couldn’t do it, Brown took over the beating. Then Brown decided to shave off Derrick’s pride and joy, his hair. Derrick begged.
Eventually Derrick couldn’t move. A drink of water failed to revive him. A bath also failed. By the time, his sister dressed him after the bath, Derrick’s eyes were open, but he wasn’t moving at all or focusing on anyone, his sister said.
It wasn’t the first time Brown had punched Derrick, his sister said. He punched and beat Derrick and her, and Brown would beat his own three children, too. During the investigation of Derrick’s June 7, 2020, death, Derrick’s sister and Brown’s children were taken to a hospital for examination. All of them had scars across their backsides, according to pictures displayed for the jury this week.
Derrick was covered in bruises, cuts and abrasions and swelling from head to toe. One of the pediatric emergency medicine doctors who tried to save Derrick told the jury Derrick’s case was the worst case of child abuse she has seen in 30 years of practicing.
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A 15-year-old teen who considered Brown as his father testified Wednesday that he didn’t know how his body was scared. He and his 12-year-old sister testified that the beating Derrick endured was by Camp, not Brown.
But that’s not what they told their mother after they were returned to her custody. She testified that she is still legally married to Brown whom she told she wanted to leave in 2015. Brown took the children for a weekend, and it was five years before she saw them again, she testified. They told her that it was Brown who hurt Derrick.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.Â
