The homeless veteran from Philadelphia who was beaten and battered into a coma last April for a wrong accusation made by a child, has passed away on Wednesday. The brutal video of the attack and full story after the jump.
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Veteran Robert Barnes, 51, was turning 52 on December 28. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries a day before Thanksgiving.
Barnes was attacked April 7 by an angry mob of people at a gas station, when one of the mob’s 10-year old children falsley told their mother Robert had hit him earlier in the day. The mother gathered some friends and had returned to beat the homeless innocent man senselessly.
The incident took place at Sunoco gas station on North 5th Street in Philadelphia. The video shows five people, including two children, running out of a minivan, giving Barnes no chance of talking about what happened.
Barnes was beaten in the head with a hammer, clubbed with the leg of a wooden rocking chair, and sprayed with mace. Once he was unconscious on the ground, several members of the mob continued the assualt, hitting and stomping on Robert’s head.
Aleathea Gillard (the mother), 34, Shareena Joachim, 23, and Kaisha Duggins, 24, have been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy, and other various crimes.
In September, all three women rejected a guilty plea deal from the District Attorney’s office that would have gave them seven to 14 years behind bars. Now that Robert has died, the court implied their charges will go up to murder and not just for the 3 women – but for all involved.
Three minors were also charged, pleading guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy charges in June.
The day of the attack, Barnes and the child were at the Sunoco gas station, willing to pump gas for spare change – which ultimately led to the incident.
Just a warning the video is a bit hard to watch:
Barnes attended Catholic school as a child and worked as a roofer in adulthood. Although he did develop an alcohol problem that resulted in him becoming homeless. Thursday night, his sister Diane said to the press:
“Tomorrow is my birthday. We would have been 51 together for a month. He called me his twin sister.”
Barnes’ sister Diane stated he eventually opened his eyes, but remained unresponsive in his vegetative state until he passed.
