A Decatur mother's fate was sealed as DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie sentenced her to life plus 20 years in prison, following a conviction of a grisly murder of her four-year-old son. Malisha Sasfras, 26, was found guilty on May 17, 2024, for Felony Murder and several counts of child cruelty and battery, as reported by the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office.
The jury learned during the trial that the young boy had been discovered unresponsive in an apartment on Candler Road and subsequently pronounced dead at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta due to blunt force trauma to the head. Sasfras claimed ignorance regarding the boy's fatal facial injury and attributed other inflicted wounds to “whooping” her children. Despite this, social media messages unveiled in court painted a disturbing picture of repeated abuse.
The little boy's autopsy revealed multiple scars, bruises, and other injuries indicative of prolonged abuse, including those shaped like a belt or cord. According to the official statement, evidence of such continual mistreatment came to light when doctors at CHOA noted injuries at various stages of healing, and the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office determined that the head trauma likely occurred up to eight hours before death.
While the case against Sasfras reached its conclusion with her sentencing, the legal proceedings against Javonte Harris, the father of a child and her co-defendant, are still ongoing. The trial's prosecution team, including Senior Assistant District Attorney Charles Ciba and his colleagues, with assistance from DeKalb County investigator Det. Panosian, aligned their efforts to secure justice for the young victim, with charges pending on Harris for Murder in the Second Degree and Cruelty to Children in the Second Degree.
