A 12-YEAR-OLD BOY in Jacksonville, Florida, has been charged with first degree murder over the death of his half brother.

The two-year-old child suffered serious head injuries, according to a police report cited in the New York Daily News.

Cristian Fernandez is accused of beating the toddler to death at the family’s home in March and will be tried as an adult. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

The children’s mother, Biannela Susana, is facing charges of attempting to conceal the attack, after telling police that she was not at home at the time the injuries were sustained but had been told the young boy fell out of a bunk bed.

Assistant Public Defender Rob Mason said Fernandez is a victim of sexual assault. Mason added that the boy’s defence team believes he can be rehabilitated.

The Florida Times-Union reports that Fernandez is being held for 23 hours a day alone in a room “about the size of a lawn shed” at Duval County jail while awaiting trial. He was transferred there from the juvenile institution he had originally been detained in after he was charged as an adult.

- Additional reporting by the AP