Karen Wright, left, the sister of defendant Katherine Bunnell, weeps as she is comforted by her mother, Mary Bunnell, after Wright made a statement to the court yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — Superior Court Judge Gilbert V. Indeglia sentenced Katherine Bunnell to life in prison saying she “instigated” the beatings that eventually led to the death of her 3-year-old nephew, Thomas “T.J.” Wright, four years ago.

Bunnell was convicted in May of second-degree murder and a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Bunnell will be eligible for parole in 20 years on the murder charge. Indeglia also imposed 10 years for the conspiracy charge in addition to the life sentence. Bunnell would need to serve three years of that sentence before being eligble for parole — meaning she will spend at least 23 years in prison.

Bunnell, 25, and her boyfriend, Gilbert Delestre, 28, are accused of beating T.J. to death. The beating was so severe that he was taken unconscious to Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He was declared brain dead and taken off life support the next day. Delestre has been at the ACI awaiting trial, which is scheduled for Nov. 3.

Indeglia said he had trouble reviewing the case on the weekend because “I did not want to relive what I experienced in May.”

“When I looked back on the record of what happened to T.J. on October 30 I believe the defendant caused what happened that night. She was the one who instigated this, the one who dragged him down the stairs, hit him … dragged him. She was there when Delestre threw that child across the room. That probably was enough right there to cause his death,” Indeglia said.

Bunnell testified in May that she only slapped T.J. lightly on the face, pouring a container of milk over his head to “discipline him” after she and Delestre returned to their Woonsocket apartment from a night out and found milk and yogurt spilled on the floor by the boy.

Her lawyer, Gerard Donley, had argued that Delestre inflicted the fatal injuries to the child after Bunnell left to take the babysitter home.

T.J.’s babysitter, Kayla Roderick, testified that Bunnell dragged the toddler out of bed, carried him downstairs, dropped him onto the floor and swore at him. She pulled him by the wrist, punched him in chest and back and caused him to fall, hitting his head multiple times, Roderick said. After Bunnell was done beating the child, Delestre picked him up and hurled him across the living room where he landed with his foot twisted under his stomach, Roderick testified.

Bunnell had taken T.J., his brothers David and Mickey, and his sister Michaela in after her sister, Karen Wright, had gone to prison in Illinois for possession of marijuana. She had her own two daughters, Destiny and Daziya.

Stacey Veroni, assistant attorney general, said the severity of the crime deserved a maximum sentence of life and 10 years for conspiracy. The birth of T.J., on Sept. 11, 2001, should have been a “sign of life” she said, but he died tragically at the hands of his own aunt. While she spoke, Bunnell, who wore a cream-colored suit with pinstripes, bent her head toward the table and her shoulders heaved.

T.J. stood 3 feet and weighed 32 pounds. He was a little boy who loved to dance and bounce on the furniture, Veroni said. He wasn’t very verbal. She displayed pictures of the battered child with bruises all over his body. “I ask you to look at this baby’s body. There is not one limb on this baby’s body not touched,” she said.

She quoted the medical examiner, who said the child’s brain was so swollen from beating that it had no place to go inside his skull.

Therese Caron, the lawyer who took over the case when Gerard Donley, Bunnell’s lawyer, moved to Italy, spoke of Wright’s desire for leniency for her sister. She asked for 10 to 15 years for Bunnell.

Bunnell had found jobs and provided for the children under her care, while Delestre seemed unable to find a job, Caron said. A review by the Department of Children, Youth and Families showed that she did not have a history of abuse, Caron said. The DCYF had come to her apartment two days before the incident and had found the children to be adequately clothed and the refrigerator to have plenty of food. “What was the state thinking when it left six children in the care of a young woman who was the only one working and driving,” Caron asked.

Caron said it was the actions of Delestre that ultimately led to T.J.’s death. “He was breathing when she left,” she said.

Since her incarceration, Bunnell has received her GED and taken college courses. She had gotten a job in the kitchen, which is a position of trust since she has access to utensils and a fryer, Caron said. “It must be difficult to assimilate when you are getting messages that say ‘you need to die slow [expletive],’ ‘baby killer,’ ‘murderer’ written on the walls,” Caron said.

She said that the life sentence would be appealed.

Wright addressed the court in tears, saying her sister was the closest thing to her and that she trusted her.

“I lived my life for the past two years like he is in the hospital. The pain is too hard for me to deal with. I want to hold him for a last time. I never got my chance to say goodbye. I have lost everything l loved. I have lost my babies. I have lost my sister. The only thing that doesn’t make me hate my sister is he was alive when she left [to bring the babysitter home].”

Bunnell apologized to her family.

“I would trade my life for T.J. if I could. I have to live it everyday. It’s hard to be labeled a baby killer. I know what I did was wrong. I’m not minimizing my actions. My actions are unforgivable. I regret it every day of my life. I am a mother, daughter, sister, aunt. I lost it all. I miss my children with all my heart ... When I see kids visiting mothers in jail, it kills me at night.”

tpina@projo.com