A Decatur woman convicted of child abuse that led to the death of her young son has been sentenced to spend decades in prison.
On May 17, 2024, jurors found Malisha Sasfras, 26, guilty on charges of felony murder, three counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, and two counts of aggravated battery stemming from the death of her four-year-old on February 11, 2023.
On Friday, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie, who presided over the trial, sentenced Sasfras to life plus 20 years in confinement.
According to the investigation, at around 4:30 p.m., paramedics responded to a call about an unresponsive child at an apartment in the 2100 block of Candler Road in unincorporated Decatur. First responders transported the boy to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) where he was pronounced dead.
Sasfras told responding officers that her son had a headache that morning and went back to bed. That afternoon, she said one of her other children noticed the four-year-old would not wake up and was cold to the touch. Sasfras tried to wake him by pouring water into his mouth and then called her son’s father, Javonte Harris, who convinced her to call 911.
Doctors and nurses at CHOA found extensive injuries on the boy’s body. He had multiple scars and bruises in different stages of healing which indicated they happened over time. Some injuries were patterned in the shape of a belt or cord. The boy also had a scar around his neck that appeared to be a ligature mark as well as blisters around his wrists as if his hands had been bound. The four-year-old also had a severe injury to his face.
An autopsy by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head—an injury they determined likely happened six to eight hours before he died.
Sasfras was the only adult home during that period but claimed she did not know how he received facial injuries. While she admitted to “whooping” her children sometimes, she did not provide any explanation for multiple other injuries on her son's body. Investigators obtained social media messages between Sasfras and Harris where she repeatedly discussed beating him because he was wetting his bed or having accidents during the day.
The case against Harris is still pending. On May 9, 2023, a DeKalb County Grand Jury indicted Harris on charges of murder in the second degree and cruelty to children in the second degree.
The case assigned to Sexual Exploitation and Crimes Against Children Unit was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Charles Ciba with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Coveney; District Attorney Investigator Camella Mungroo-Patterson; and Victim Advocate Tess Balles. DeKalb County Police Department Det. Panosian led the initial investigation.