Nanny convicted of force-feeding an 8-month-old with formula
A former nanny faces up to 70 years in prison after being convicted of killing an 8-month-old baby girl in Maryland.
Oluremi Oyindasola, 73, was arrested in 2016 when she was accused of force-feeding a baby in her care. Police said the nanny was napping while the baby was in a walker, according to ABC affiliate WJLA in Washington, D.C. An in-home surveillance video showed the baby crying and tugging on the nanny’s leg. When Oyindasola awoke, the video showed her taking the nipple off the infant’s bottle and pouring milk down her throat for almost 30 seconds.
Oyindasola reportedly called the baby’s father, who called 911. The 8-month-old was rushed to the hospital but died of asphyxiation.
“You left home with a live baby and come home with a dead baby,” Influence Salubi said in court about his daughter’s death, according to the Washington Post. “It’s not something I can forget.”
Maryland nanny convicted of fatally force-feeding baby https://t.co/xEq1U90Kd3 pic.twitter.com/lcyHctC5HC
— WLOS (@WLOS_13) February 13, 2019
The nanny, who hails from Nigeria, testified in court that the child’s death was an accident, saying that it is customary in her home country to force children to eat.
“I did what I needed to do to make sure the baby had food in the stomach,” Oyindasola said in court through an interpreter, per the Washington Post.
State prosecutors, however, said that the nanny force-fed the baby to get her to be quiet.
“Any caregiver should’ve known this would have caused serious bodily harm, or in this case, death,” Prince George’s County state’s attorney Aisha Braveboy told WJLA. “This family, I can tell you, the mother and father did everything right. They interviewed nannies, they got referrals and the defendant came highly recommended from friends who they knew.”
After Oyindasola declined a trial by jury, a judge found her guilty on Monday in Prince George’s County Circuit Court of second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in death and second-degree child abuse, People magazine reports. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 3.
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