Broward teen charged with beating grandmother to death will serve 3 years in juvenile jail

A 14-year-old girl charged as an adult months after she was accused of beating her grandmother to death in their Broward apartment will spend three years behind bars in a juvenile facility.

The girl, whom the Herald isn’t naming due to her age, pleaded no contest to a manslaughter charge Wednesday morning before Broward Circuit Court Judge Thomas Coleman. The teen will serve three years in a juvenile maximum-risk program before being placed on supervised release until she’s 21.

READ MORE: Teen beat grandmother to death in Broward, prosecutors say. She’s now charged as an adult

Earlier this month, the girl’s murder case was transferred from juvenile to adult court, with the charge reduced to manslaughter. In a statement after the sentencing, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said it hopes the plea deal will help the girl’s father heal after losing his mother, 79-year-old Yevheniia Koval.

“Because of the heinous nature of the crime and after considering everything presented by the defense, I believe it is appropriate that this case was transferred to adult court and that juvenile sanctions were imposed,” State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in the statement.

In May, the girl was arrested after investigators say she fatally battered her grandmother. When paramedics arrived at their Lauderdale Lakes apartment, they found Koval on the floor with visible bruises.

Koval’s death was ruled a homicide, and an autopsy revealed that she had bleeding in her brain.

According to a court document, the teen — who was in tears — told her father that her grandmother had scratched her, so she hit Koval several times with a belt “to defend herself.”

The girl later told investigators, through a Ukrainian translator, that her grandmother “was already dying and that she helped her die,” the document states.

’I want my mother here’

When detectives questioned the girl, they noted that she was agitated, aggressive and appeared to be possibly suffering from a psychotic episode, according to court records. The teen’s father Volodymyr Koval also reported that the girl hadn’t been eating or sleeping.

In court Wednesday, Volodymyr recounted how he noticed his daughter’s mental health spiraling from witnessing the war in Ukraine. The teen moved to the U.S. eight months before Koval’s killing.

READ MORE: Is mental health linked to 14 year old accused of killing her grandmother in Broward?

Volodymyr said his daughter had been a victim of bullying and an attempted rape while at school in Ukraine in April 2023. He added that the incident pushed him to file refugee status for his family, though the girl’s mother was rejected. She’s still living in Ukraine.

The family’s separation, Volodymyr said, has been difficult and stressful for his daughter.

“She always, always repeats, ‘I want my mother here,’” Volodymyr told the judge as prosecutors behind him held up a photo of Koval.

Facing the court, Volodymyr noted he tried to help his daughter, who he knew was struggling with mental health, but couldn’t afford the services that she needed.

“I did everything possible,” Volodymyr said. “I [contacted] a psychiatrist. It was too expensive. Even accepting my accepting my insurance, it still was not affordable.”

The teen remains at the North Broward Bureau, an adult jail in Pompano Beach, but will soon be transferred to a state juvenile facility. She faces deportation to Ukraine after completing her sentence.

“I can sympathize with your losses,” Judge Coleman told Volodymyr. “But there’s nothing that’s going to repair, take it back, make it better.”