Inset: Jacob Kubai (Polk County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Kubai at his first appearance in Polk County, Florida (WESH/YouTube).
A Florida man is headed to prison for “viciously” beating his 4-month-old daughter to death after causing her to suffer 10 broken ribs, a skull fracture and hemorrhaging to her spine.
Jacob Kubai, 23, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child, the State Attorney’s Office, 10th Judicial Circuit said in a press release. Kubai was in charge of his daughter’s care while his wife worked two jobs.
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As Law&Crime previously reported, Bartow police were called around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, 2024, to Bartow Regional Medical Center for a child in cardiac arrest. Medical personnel in a helicopter flew the girl named Willow Kubai, whom everyone called “Strawberry,” to a hospital in Tampa, where she died two days later.
Detectives with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office later learned that Kubai rushed the girl to the hospital after finding her unresponsive. The father told investigators that he and the girl dropped off his wife, Willow’s mom, at work at around 5 p.m., Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference following the arrest.
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Kubai said he played video games for a while and later went to Walmart at around 6:40 p.m. to pick up some items for dinner and returned. He claimed he fed the baby at 7:50 p.m. and checked on her every 10 minutes until 8:10 p.m., when he said he found his daughter suddenly unresponsive.
Kubai said he administered CPR and then took the infant to the hospital.
When detectives reviewed the security cameras at Walmart, they saw he was there without the baby. Judd said investigators determined he beat Willow before leaving for the grocery store.
An autopsy revealed Willow’s horrific injuries: a skull fracture, multiple bruises to her forehead, 10 fractured ribs, hemorrhaging to her spine and multiple layers of brain bleed, Judd said. Investigators believe she suffered the broken ribs when Kubai squeezed her. Kubai also hit Willow in the forehead 10 times and used a hard object to strike her in the back of the head.
“The baby was literally beaten to death,” Judd said.
While Kubai initially cooperated with cops, he later changed his tune.
“He started saying ‘none of this is real,”” Judd said. “‘My wife’s not real. My baby’s not real. This is a fantasy. This just didn’t happen.’ He started immediately playing games with us. He showed zero remorse. He shed not one tear and yet he has literally beaten and squeezed his baby to death at 4 months old.”
