A Nigerian nanny has been found guilty of murdering an 8-month-old baby by force-feeding her half a pint of milk in less than 30 seconds.
Oluremi Adeleye, 73, was trusted with the care of 8-month-old Enitan Salubi in Maryland. But the nanny was captured on a nanny cam taking the teat off a bottle as she forced the child to guzzle down the baby formula in October 2016.
Prosecutors say the carer performed the sickening punishment after the baby’s crying woke her from a nap, according to the Washington Post.
 |
In footage from the nanny cam, Enitan could be seen struggling as Adeleye tipped the contents of a nearly full bottle into her mouth – drowning her with the milk. The toddler then collapsed but Adeleye picked her up and even tried to force her to drink another bottle of milk.
The trial took place in the week Enita Salubi would have turned 3. Arguments centred on whether Adeleye acted cruelly and knew that forcing the child to eat in the manner she did could result in the girl’s death.
Oluremi Adeleye, 73, was convicted Monday in the force-feeding death of a child in her care as a nanny. (Prince George's County Police)
The girl died Oct. 24, 2016, while in Adeleye’s care, with the incident captured on video by a nanny camera.
Footage aired in court showed the baby bouncing in a walker, pulling on the nanny’s dress and patting her leg as the nanny was lying on a couch. After a few minutes, Adeleye gets up from the couchand tries to give Enita a bottle, the footage showed.
Eventually, Adeleye removes the nipple and lid from the bottle and appears to pour the milk into the baby’s mouth as the baby squirms. The 8-ounce bottle, which was nearly full, was drained in less than half a minute, testimony showed. The baby continued to wriggle in Adeleye’s arms the video showed, before she falls to the ground. Adeleye picks up the child and attempts to give her more liquid from a second bottle, according to the video.
“She was getting her to shut up by pouring down the milk,” Prince George’s County Assistant State’s Attorney Artemis Moutsatsos said at trial.
The video eventually shows Enita going limp like a rag doll, with Adeleye rocking the baby for minutes, trying to make her alert and wiping the girl’s face as her head flops back and forth.
Adeleye and her lawyers said she was “cup feeding” the child. Her defense described cup feeding as placing one’s hand to a child’s mouth and pouring liquid into the hand to give the child food when they don’t want to eat but need feeding.
The defense called relatives of Adeleye as witnesses, who testified she had cared for their children with no problems and that “cup feeding” — pouring liquid in the hand bit by bit — was common in Nigeria.
Adeleye’s attorney, Douglas Wood, argued that Enita’s death was a “tragic accident” and there was no criminal conduct.
Wood argued that this was not a case of child abuse, which legally requires a finding that “cruel or inhumane treatment or malicious acts” occurred. Wood said his client was merely trying to feed the girl.
“All she wanted to do was feed the child,” Wood said. “She wanted to make sure the baby was healthy and the baby was well fed.”
Adeleye was initially charged under her married name of Oluremi Oyindasola. Prince George’s CountyCircuit Court Judge Karen H. Mason found Adeleye guilty of all the charges against her — second-degree murder, second-degree child abuse and child abuse resulting in death.
In announcing the conviction, Mason noted that Adeleye lied to homicide detectives during a recorded interview about how she fed the child. Adeleye at first denied removing the lid of the bottle to feed the baby and then later admitted to unscrewing the cap after a detective told her there was video of the incident, testimony showed. The lying “demonstrates a consciousness of guilt,” said Mason, who also said the nanny’s actions were “cruel and inhumane.”
Adeleye’s defense said that much of the milk ran down the nanny’s dress and down the child’s shirt. But the judge said emergency responders testified that milk came out of the baby’s nose and mouth with each of the 20 chest compressions they administered. The judge also said the child’s father testified to sucking milk out of his daughter’s face.
Adeleye “disregarded any signs of any distress” the child showed as her arms and legs flailed while being fed.
Wood declined to comment on the case after the trial.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha N. Braveboy said the nanny camera played a key rolein securing a conviction.
“You have two loving, caring parents who did everything right,” Braveboy said. “They interviewed the sitter, they got references and they did their homework and research by all accounts . . . but she abused this young child and the reason we were able to prove it is because the parents had the foresight to install a camera.”
Nikia Porter, Enita’s mother, said her family misses their “beauty,” who was always smiling and laughing. Porter and her husband both testified and sat through the trial, sometimes in tears as video of their baby going lifeless replayed over and over in court.
The day before the trial ended — what would have been the weekend of Enita’s third birthday — Porter pulled out a white candle left over from her daughter’s repast from two years ago. A photo of her child smiling in a pink onesie stared back at her as the flame burned.
“I lit the candle,” Porter said, “and prayed that justice would prevail.”
Prosecuting attorney Artemis Moutsatsos told Prince George’s County Circuit Court:
She was getting her to shut up by pouring down the milk.
In the harrowing footage, played in court, baby Enita could then be seen going limp as Adeleye tried to rouse her. Adeleye then called the toddler’s dad who called 911 as he raced home.
Paramedics said that milk was pouring out of the baby’s mouth and nose as they performed CPR.
When detectives arrived, the nanny lied to them about removing the teat from the bottle. She only changed her story when police told her there was a video of the incident.
Nigerian-born Adeleye, a mum of five and grandmother of 10, was convicted on Monday of child abuse and second-degree murder.
She said through an interpreter:
I did what I needed to do to make sure the baby had food in the stomach.
Recalling the day Enita died, her father Influence Salubi told the court:
You left home with a live baby and come home with a dead baby.It’s not something I can forget.
Nikia Porter, the baby’s mum, described her child as their "beauty" and said she is sorely missed.
Adeleye will be sentenced on 3 May. She faces up to 70 years in prison.
No comments:
Post a Comment