Kryzie King, a transgender female performer, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the death of 4-year-old Myls Dobson. View Full Caption MocoSpace.com; Facebook (inset)

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The woman convicted of starving, torturing and killing 4-year-old Myls Dobson in a Midtown high-rise in 2014 was chiefly concerned about her hairdo during her sentencing of 22 years to life in prison.

Kryzie King, 29, who was left in charge of the child when Myls' father was arrested, pleaded guilty last month to starving the boy for a month then burning the child's leg with a hot oven rack and gagging and beating him to death in January 2014.

At the sentencing on Friday, King, with her hair in a tight bun on top of her head and a white set of rosary beads over her tight, black long-sleeve shirt, apologized to the family of the child.

"I'm sorry to the family of Myls Dobson," she said in a barely audible voice. But her lawyer, Bryan Konoski, speaking on her behalf told the judge that she did not want the New York State Department of Correctional Services touching her hair.

"Her hair is very important to her identity as a transgender individual," he said. "She asks that the corrections department refrain from cutting her hair."

She was also worried about her safety behind bars.

"My client asks that she be placed in protective custody [within the prison] for transgender individuals," Konoski said.

The request outraged the boy's family members who were there to witness the sentencing.

"I find it hard to understand the people who commit these types of crimes then have the audacity to ask for a favor," said Myls' great-uncle Will Brown.

He said that the pain of the 4-year-old's death would never go away.

"The memories from Myls' loss are far from over. From time to time, I'll cry about it as I'm doing now. I would have liked the sentencing to be much harsher."

By all accounts, Myls was a happy child despite a life of turmoil and mistreatment from his parents. He was taken away from his mother Ashlee Dobson for neglect and abuse and put in the custody of his father Okee Wade, an accused rapist who is currently serving time for bank fraud.

His grandmother, Faye Bennett, recalled the boy greeting the subway conductor and all the passengers when she would take him to school on the subway.

"He was the most kind, endearing, well-behaved young man you would ever want to meet," she told the court during the sentencing.

The boy's mother, clutching a teddy bear wearing Myls' white christening outfit, allowed Bennett to speak for her at the hearing.

"Not a day goes by that I don't miss him," Bennett said on her daughter's behalf. "I hear his voice saying, 'I love you. Don't cry, mommy, I'm okay.' "

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, who oversaw the case, called the crime a "senseless tragedy."

She said that King was in charge of a "happy, well-nourished little boy," but after a month "Myls couldn't take it anymore — the weeks of mental and physical anguished and lack of food and water caused his organs to shut down."