Cobb County woman gets life sentence in murder of her 5-year-old daughter

The Cobb District Attorney’s office announced that a Cobb County woman, Shekinah Akbar, has received a life sentence after pleading guilty to the murder of her 5-year-old daughter. She was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard.

In a February 20, 2020 incident, Akbar, 33, was accused of torturing and killing her daughter. First responders arrived at the home to find the child dead and badly beaten. Akbar, who placed a call to 911, first reported that her neighbors had beaten her daughter. She later admitted to investigators she had hit the child while attempting an exorcism of evil spirits from her. Police say when confronted with the full extent of her daughter’s injuries, Akbar claimed she did not remember inflicting that much harm and denied having killed her child.

Akbar was subsequently arrested and charged with murdering her juvenile daughter. She initially claimed insanity, but later withdrew that notice and pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to felony murder and cruelty to children.