Husband of 2020 “Worst Cooks in America” winner Ariel Robinson has reportedly rendered a guilty plea in the 2021 homicide of their 3-year-old foster child.
Ariel Robinson, 30, of Simpsonville, S.C., and her husband, Jerry "Austin" Robinson, 35, were both were charged in January 2021 over death of the girl identified as Victoria Rose Smith.
FoxCarolina reported that Jerry Robinson faces a minimum of 10 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty on Thursday April 14, in a Greenville courtroom to homicide by child abuse/aiding and abetting.
People had reported earlier that a Greenville County senior deputy coroner Kent Dill said that Victoria Rose died as a result of multiple blunt force injuries.
The little girl was found unresponsive at the couple's Simpsonville home around 2:25 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2021, and died later at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Jerry Robinson testified during a hearing on Thursday that he walked in to find his wife holding a belt, and that she allegedly beat the girl because she was frustrated with her. He added that he saw the bruising as his daughter was crying.
Robinson said;
"By the time I walked inside, it was as if nothing was going on.
"I told her, 'You went too far this time and I should've stopped it.'"
Greenville News reported that Jerry said the girl had thrown up on herself the previous night on her way to church, angering her mother. Ariel's frustration grew the next morning when Ariel allegedly claimed the girl did not eat her pancakes fast enough, he said.
After that, he said Ariel gave the girl a "whooping" that he could hear from outside of the home.
Jerry later placed the 911 call that summoned first responders. Assistant Solicitor Christy Sustakovitch summarized that call in court, saying Jerry reported, "We have an emergency, our daughter is unresponsive. She drank a lot of water. We tried to do CPR to get it out," according to the Greenville News.
Ariel Robinson has already entered a plea of not guilty and heads to court next month. She won $25,000 from the Food Network after taking first prize in a cookoff that aired on Aug. 2, 2020. The culinary channel reportedly pulled its entire 2020 season from the airwaves after the Robinsons’ arrest.
