Mariners Harbor mom pleads guilty in death of son

 
OatesMelissa Sekulski is led to her arraignment on Dec. 28, 2008.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Mariners Harbor mom will likely spend the next 20 years in prison after she admitted to beating and abusing her obese 10-year-old son for nearly three years until he died the day after Christmas 2008.
Melissa Sekulski, 31, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a count of first-degree manslaughter stemming from the death of Jaquan Porter, who at the age of 10 weighed more than 260 pounds when he collapsed in their Grandview Avenue apartment after his head was slammed against a wall twice on Dec. 26, 2008.
Under the deal, prosecutors are recommending that Ms. Sekulski spend 20 years behind bars when she returns to state Supreme Court, St. George, April 7 for sentencing in front of Justice Robert J. Collini.
“It’s not enough,” the boy’s father, Charles Porter, 31, of Manhattan, said outside the courtroom immediately after the plea hearing. “I think she should have gotten life. She has no remorse whatsoever for what she did to my son.”
Dressed in black pants, a dark sweater over a black turtleneck and her hair tied back in a bun, Ms. Sekulski fought back tears and nearly broke down several times as she answered the judge’s questions with a simple “yes” or “yes sir” with her attorney, public defender Joseph Licitra, standing by her side.
Court papers revealed that Ms. Sekulski previously made oral, written and videotaped statements in which she admitted to beating Jaquan Porter repeatedly over the course of three years, “repeatedly causing physical injury and by using a belt and/or a belt buckle to the body on multiple occasions.”
The day after Christmas 2008, Ms. Sekulski handed out a severe beating to the boy in their apartment at 194 Grandview Ave. According to court documents, Jaquan’s head struck the wall “at least twice.”
She then waited until Jaquan had passed out before calling 911 at about 6:30 p.m.
Porter, an emergency room worker at Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton, said although his son died at the hospital when he was working, he didn’t find out about Jaquan’s death until he read it in the newspaper.
“If she couldn’t handle him, she knew where I was,” Porter said, adding that Jaquan was his only child with Ms. Sekulski. “But whenever I asked about Jaquan, she said he was okay.
“He wasn’t okay because she was beating him.”
Assistant District Attorney Raja Rajeswari prosecuted the case.