Panel to review 10-yr-old's murder case

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A young boy who was murdered at the hands of his stepfather reached out for help. Now a Citizen Review Panel in Erie County will receive all the files on the 10-year-old Abdi Mohamud to determine if the system failed this child.

As the horrible details came out of Abdi's murder, people sought answers to why the little boy's pleas a year earlier and up the time of his murder last April went unheeded. Abdi was bound in his basement with a sock stuffed in his mouth and beaten to death with a rolling pin by his stepfather, Ali Mohamed Mohamud.

Prosecutor John Feroleto said, "Abdi tried to protect himself with his arms and his legs as this defendant mercilessly struck him again and again."

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has reviewed all the files, but the county and the state won't make them public.

"We can't go into the details because we're prohibited by state law from talking about the details of the actual investigation," Poloncarz said.

But one crucial detail, unknown to Erie County according to Poloncarz, was that Abdi's home had been a day care center licensed by the State of New York and operated by Abdi's mother. Other children were coming into a home where problems were known to exist.

Poloncarz said, "If we had known that, there may have been greater scrutiny applied to this case than there was in the past."

A year before he was murdered, Abdi had called 911 saying, "Please come fast. It's a matter of life and death." Buffalo Police responded and then turned the case over to Erie County Child Protective Services. Now a Citizen Review Panel will dig into the case.

Chairwoman Ellen Kennedy said, "If there are things in the system, in the structure, in the policies, that in fact do not help keep children safe..."

Kennedy committed to investigating this case last May, but it has taken months long for the Erie County files to be turned over to them. The trial had to conclude and the state also had to finish its own fatality report.

Abdi's stepfather was sentenced for the boy's murder to 25 years to life in prison.