MARTIN COBB, 8-year-old boy beaten to death as he tried to protecting his 12-year-old sister from a brutal rapist.....“He was a lovely little boy. He didn’t deserve this,” said the children’s aunt, Geraldine Pitchford

Eight-year-old Martin Cobb (Image via WWBT, from Cobb's family)

by Katie Wall, NBC News | May 2, 2014 at 4:06 PM

The family of an 8-year-old boy beaten to death as he tried to defend his 12-year-old sister from a brutal rape gathered outside their home Friday, grappling with the details of the vicious attack.

They leaned on one another, crying, shaking and struggling to understand the loss of little Martin Cobb.

“He was a lovely little boy. He didn’t deserve this,” said the children’s aunt, Geraldine Pitchford, choking back tears in front of the family’s home in Richmond’s working-class Southside. Martin’s mother was too distraught to come outside.

The neighborhood’s calm was shattered Thursday, when police rushed to the home at 6:30 p.m. The brother and sister had been playing on train tracks behind the family home’s backyard.

The suspect approached the pair, who often played together, and attempted to sexually assault the girl, police said.

Martin tried to help his sister, and the suspect struck him in the head with a brick, reported NBC affiliate WWBT. He died at the scene. more