Oluremi Adeleye, a 73 nanny convicted of murder in the U.S. for force-feeding a baby with milk has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
According to Washington Post, the septuagenarian was found guilty of child abuse and second-degree murder by Prince Georgeās County Circuit Court, Judge Karen Mason.
āWhile I donāt find the defendant is an evil-intentioned baby slayer, I also donāt find her actions were accidental.ā Mason said before handing down the sentence.
Prince Georgeās County prosecutors argued that the nanny unscrewed the lid of a baby bottle and poured nearly eight ounces of milk down 8-month-old Enita Salubiās throat.
Adeleye, a native of Nigeria, testified in her own defense at her trial that she was ācup-feedingā the baby to ensure it didnāt go hungry, a custom in her home country.
She and her attorneys said that she did not mean to hurt the child and that Enitaās death was a ātragic accident.ā
Adeleye had others testify in her defense, saying that cup-feeding ā pouring liquid in oneās hand to feed children when they do not want to eat but need to be fed ā was common in Nigeria.
āPlease forgive me. I didnāt mean to kill your child,ā Oluremi said in court on the day the judgement was delivered.
The child had roused the nanny from a nap, and the girl essentially drowned in milk while in Adeleyeās care in Glenarden on Oct. 24, 2016, prosecutors said at trial.
Enitaās mother, Nikia Porter, said at the sentencing that she moved from the South Side of Chicago to escape gun violence that could have put her family in danger.
āI didnāt want to lose my child to a stray bulletā¦. I lost her to a formula.ā
Adeleye, opted for a bench trial, in which a judge weighed her fate instead of a jury.
In finding Adeleye guilty of all the charges against her, Mason said Adeleye lied to homicide detectives in recorded interviews about whether she unscrewed the cap of the bottle to feed the child.
The shifting story, Mason said, demonstrated a āconsciousness of guilt.ā
