Heartbreaking funeral held for young Bronx brothers allegedly killed by their mom
The tiny white coffins of the two little Bronx brothers allegedly killed by their mother were placed side by side at their funeral Friday — a heartbreaking sight for family and friends mourning the “angels.”
Sean Macnair, a neighbor, broke down sobbing as he recalled trying to resuscitate little Daishawn Fleming, 3, who was killed along with his 11-month-old brother Octavius Canada in last month’s horror.
“When I tried to give him life back, I felt like I was ready to give my life,” Macnair said of the tot. “If he was dying right here, if I could make a trade, I would.
“He was so funny. He was so handsome,” Macnair recalled of the little boy. “I remember when Daishawn got his two little front teeth, and I said, ‘What you doing?’ He be standing up in stroller, showing his two teeth.”
The little boys’ mother, Dimone Fleming, 22, allegedly stabbed them and hid their bodies under wet clothes in the bathtub in the family’s apartment at a city homeless shelter.
She felt “smothered” by one of the boys’ fathers and believed he was “the devil” because of his tattoos, her dad has told The Post. The boy’s dad has denied having any kind of markings to do with Satan.
A cousin who spoke at the service at a funeral home on Gun Hill Road said of the boys, “These are two angels that have gone too soon.”
The unidentified woman urged other mothers to seek help if they are having issues.
“Please pick up the phone and ask if you need help, just ask. I’m a mother of five kids, I can’t even imagine,” the woman said.
The touching service started with a hymn — “Jesus Love the Little Children” — and a reading from the book of Genesis, before friends and family approached a podium at the front of the room to speak beside the two caskets.
“All of our hearts are broken today, but we serve a God that’s able today to mend every broken heart,” said John Harris, who was introduced as the victims’ great-great-great-grandfather.
A man who declined to give his name said, “Octavius and Daishawn were the most energetic, happy kids that I ever met.
“Every time I would hold Octavius, he would laugh and smile. Daishawn was always smiling. You couldn’t help but smile yourself.”
A woman named Allie said of Daishawn, “I’m gonna miss him so much.
“He was my daughter’s TikTok buddy. Him and my son were the same age. They was growing together.”
Fleming had initially been taken into custody by officers responding to a report of a woman “acting irrationally” and igniting things in the kitchen of the apartment.
She was brought to a nearby hospital for evaluation — with officers unaware that the boys’ bodies were in the bathtub. They had been told by a neighbor that the dad of the baby had them, law-enforcement sources have said.
Later that evening, police then received a second frantic 911 call to the same location from Octavius’s father, Columbus Canada, reporting that he’d found the kids’ bodies when he returned to the apartment.
Law-enforcement sources have told The Post that Fleming made “statements about the devil — unusual statements,” and that they were investigating whether she believed the boys were “possessed.”
But Keyah Love — who ran a single-mothers group in the neighborhood — said she suspected post-partum depression.
“She was definitely a good mom to her kids. All that stuff about the devil on the news, I didn’t know where you got it from,” Love told The Post on Friday. “She was a real good mom, but sometimes you break down.
“She tried to better herself, she would tell me I want to go to work, she would start jobs then she would quit,” Love said of Fleming. “It did hurt to see it.
“[Post-partum depression] is real,” she added. “It can last forever. I believe that she didn’t do it out of anger.
“When I found out, I almost didn’t want to be here myself,” Love said. “I just couldn’t believe it. They was like my own sons.”
