Winner of popular Food Network show sentenced to life in prison for beating 3-year-old to death

(Video Credit: WYFF News 4)

Ariel Robinson, who was a Food Network winner on “Worst Cooks in America,” was quickly found guilty by a jury on Thursday of beating her three-year-old foster daughter, Victoria Rose Smith, to death in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing the child.

Robinson is from Greenville, South Carolina. The jurors only deliberated for an hour and a half before rendering the verdict following a four-day trial.

She was arrested with her husband, Jerry “Austin” Robinson, following the death of the toddler. In April, he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse. As Ariel Robinson was accused of beating the child to death, she blamed her husband and called him a liar.

Police found Victoria unresponsive after responding to a 911 call at the Robinson’s home on January 14, 2021. The mother claimed that the toddler “went limp” after drinking too much liquid and that she thought the girl had choked. According to the coroner’s office, the little girl died as a result of blunt force injuries.

Ariel (left) and her husband Jared Robinson (right)

When she was asked about bruises found all over the child’s body, Ariel reportedly blamed Victoria’s brother, who the Robinsons also fostered, claiming he had “anger issues.”

Ariel Robinson testified Thursday and wept when she was asked what it was like to live with the child. The “Worst Cooks in America” season 20 winner said that “Tori” was “a perfect child” who was easy to get along with according to the New York Post.

Greenville County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Ward, a forensic pathologist, testified on Wednesday that Victoria was beaten with so much force that her blood vessels burst, allowing blood to collect in her muscles and fat, which potentially led to her death according to FOX Carolina.

“If we lose enough blood, the heart doesn’t have enough volume to pump,” he noted.

Victoria Rose Smith
Twitter

The husband previously told authorities that the fatal beating occurred in connection to the child throwing up on the way to a church service on Jan. 13, 2021. Robinson’s frustration reportedly spiraled out of control the next morning when the girl did not eat her pancakes fast enough, according to the husband. Then he said she gave the child a “whooping” that he could hear from outside of the home, People reported.

Jean Smith and Avery Santiago, who were witnesses at the trial, testified on Wednesday that they saw Robinson and an undressed Smith in the church bathroom as the foster mother attempted to clean the girl’s dress in a sink. When asked if the child was sick, Robinson replied that the child “eats too much and makes herself throw up,” calling it “a game.”

“‘Oh, you’re cold. You’re cold. Girls that make themselves throw up deserve to be cold,’” Robinson told Smith according to Santiago.

“I was frustrated,” Ariel asserted on Thursday when she was asked about the church incident.

The husband testified on Tuesday that Robinson would use a belt or a wooden paddle on the child when she became angry with the girl over her eating habits.

“Sometimes I’d take a piece of (her) food just to help her out,” he testified according to FOX Carolina.

Robinson is a former teacher. She won $25,000 during a Food Network amateur cooks competition that was overseen by celebrity chefs according to Deadline.

Ariel Robinson
Food Network

A Change.org petition, started by Victoria’s biological great aunt, Michelle Urps, has almost 46,000 signatures and is calling for South Carolina lawmakers to pass a bill called Victoria’s Law that will reform “the current screening process to become not only an adoptive parent but as a foster parent as well.”

“We want there to be frequent non-scheduled home visits to the foster and adoptive parents and even after adoptions are finalized,” the petition asserts. ”We want Guardian Ad Litem’s and case workers [sic] to talk privately with children in these homes so that they have the chance to ask for help if they need it.”

Previously in a Twitter thread, Robinson said that while her black and white children were treated the same in her home, that would “not be the case” when they go out into the real world.

“It’s a shame that as a proud mom to 4 beautiful boys, I can’t protect them from the reality and evil of this world once they leave the house. However, I will fight and use my voice to make a difference. To bring awareness and change so that one day, that change will come,” she proclaimed on social media. “I’m a Mama Bear, & I’ll do anything to protect my children & make sure their futures are equally bright [because] they have the same opportunities & are treated as equals the way God made them. There should be no #whiteprivilege only American privilege. #EqualityforAll #BlackLivesMatte[r].”

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20 thoughts on “Winner of popular Food Network show sentenced to life in prison for beating 3-year-old to death

  1. And to think that the POS who beat my 3 year old granddaughter to death in 2009 only got 15 years!! The phucker gets out in October of this year!!😭😭😭

  2. Who tf thought it was a good idea to let a black woman foster a little white girl?

  3. Apparently, they’re not treated the same in her home considering the little defenseless white girl is now dead as the result of a severe beating. This woman is an animal and, regarding this statement, “I can’t protect them from the reality and evil of this world once they leave the house”…it sure looks to me like this “EVIL” she speaks of was right there staring at her sorry ass in the mirror from within her house. Anyone laying hands on a child to this degree should receive the same in punishment. Life in prison is far to good for this monster.

  4. Foster and adoption should have changed after those two lesbians drove off a cliff with their 6 adopted black children! How did those two morons were allowed to adopt so many children is outrageous! With this Robinson lunatic fostering children did they even check with her 4 kids to see what life is like living in the household! Maybe she had a hatred for white people and took it out on this little girl every time she forced her to eat more than her little stomach could hold! RIP little Angel!

    1. Maybe, read her own words. She bought into the big lie that blacks in this country are disadvantaged. Just the opposite, they get every advantage and still f it up.

  5. They should have acted just over 3 years earlier. Then they would be a hero to the Democrats.

  6. How did these people qualify as foster parents and who qualified them? Because it seems to me that, as well as murder, another crime was committed here, and that crime belongs on the head of the person who qualified these people to take in foster children. He or she needs to lose his or her job as immediately.

  7. Open the gates of Heaven, here comes another unwanted child. This poor child, God Bless them all.

  8. These two are evil. That poor little scared, lonely girl, never experienced happiness on earth. God will accept her in all his glory.

  9. This precious little girl is HOME with her CREATOR now. She is blessed. Thats a place these vicious animals will never see so she is safe from them and others like them forever. The Bible says if you hurt a child it’s better a millstone be hung around your neck and you dropped in the sea. God will take care of their punishment.

  10. She wrote Equality for All#BlackLivesMatter—– I guess that little childs life didnt matter too much to them . Especially when a majority of Blacks think they have the right to beat and kill anyone they want.

  11. I hope what I’ve heard about the treatment of child abusers in prison is true!

    1. I have heard about that in men’s prisons, but don’t know if it’s also true of those in woman’s!

  12. This story just sickens me. So these two people were foster parents for this beautiful child. Then they beat her to death. Now they get to live out their lives in prison where their every need is paid for by the tax payers while this innocent child’s life has been snuffed out. Look upon the face of true evil folks.

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