Jurors hear of Sandifer abuse

[UPI]

CHICAGO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Robert Sandifer, the 11-year-old murder
suspect who allegedly became the target of a gang hit, suffered severe
abuse during his short life, a medical examiner told a Cook County jury.
Edmund Donahue said an autopsy on Sandifer's body after his slaying
in August 1994 revealed 49 scars, many of which were older healed wounds
that apparently came from repeated abuse.
Sandifer's 86-pound body was scarred on the abdomen, back, arms and
legs, Donahue said, so many times that he had to use two charts to
diagram all the wounds.
According to the Department of Children and Family Services, Sandifer
was whipped with an electrical cord by his teenage mother before being
removed to his grandmother's home.
Sandifer, who reportedly earned his nickname ``Yummy'' because of his
love of cookies, had a tattoo indicating his membership in the Black
Disciples Nation street gang.
Donahue took the stand Wednesday in the trial of Derrick Hardaway.
Prosecutors say Hardaway, 16, and his brother Cragg, 17, were ordered to
kill Sandifer before police could get to the boy. Cragg Hardaway is
awaiting trial on murder charges as well.
In a case that shocked Chicagoans and made national headlines,
Sandifer was on the run from police when his body was discovered in a
South Side viaduct with two bullets to the back of the head.
Sandifer was being sought by police and FBI agents after his alleged
involvement in two separate shooting incidents. Sandifer allegedly
killed 14-year-old Shavon Dean by mistake while firing at rival gang
members and wounded another girl in a separate shooting.
According to prosecutors, the boy went into hiding and was ready to
turn himself in when the Hardaways found him and promised to take him
out of town. Instead they allegedly drove him to a viaduct near 108th
and Cottage Grove, where Cragg Hardaway allegedly shot him twice in the
back of the head.
Gang members apparently didn't want Sandifer talking to police about
Dean's slaying or revealing information about the Black Disciples.
Testimony in the trial continues Thursday.