A babysitter has been charged with murder after putting a baby in a tumble drier so she could watch television undisturbed. Arielle Smith, 19, has been told she faces a second degree murder charge after the horrific incident in Harvey near New Orleans, Louisiana.
Prosecutors say Smith put five-month-old Andre Jenkins in the tumble drier because he would not stop crying. Smith, who was babysitting two other children including her one-year-old son and Andre's 18 month old brother, switched on the machine and watched as the baby span round.
Jenkins died from a skull fracture and horrific burns caused by the 175C temperature inside the drier. "She was trying to watch something on television," said Assistant District Attorney Amanda Calogero said. "She put the two older kids in a room, and she put the baby in the dryer and turned it on."
Later Smith called the boy's mother Brandy Dozier and told her Andre was not breathing. Dozier had dropped her sons off at Smith's home while she went to work. Smith claimed she had spilt a pan of boiling water on him - but later confessed to putting the boy in the drier and turning it one.
Medical experts said the baby suffered second degree burns caused by the scalding temperature inside the drier. The baby had burns on his feet, face, head, arms and legs. He is thought to have been in the spinning drier for up to three minutes. Smith told detectives she took the baby out and replaced the clothes that had been inside.
At first she claimed she was playing a game of hide and seek with the other children and had placed the baby inside, then accidentally started the machine. But in a later police statement Smith said the children were "interfering" with her plan to watch daytime TV soaps. The incident took place in September but this week a grand jury ruled that the 19-year-old single mum should stand trial on a second degree murder charge after she was ruled mentally competent.
No comments:
Post a Comment