19 month-old infant shook violently, hit badly, dies in hospital.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Kinjal Patel, a 27 year-old babysitter in Connecticut, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child after a 19 month-old child in her care got injured, and later died.
The child, Athiyan Sivakumar, was being watched by Patel on the night of Thursday, January 16 at her home on Middletown Avenue in New Haven. Patel’s home is just down the street from that of the child’s parents, who live on Weybosset Street.
According to police, Patel said that she was frustrated with the child for undisclosed reasons and struck him. The child fell to the floor, whereupon Patel hit the child even more, resulting in a severe skull fracture. The child then began crying and went into convulsions.
Law enforcement was called to the Yale-New Haven Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department just before 9:30 P.M., where Sivakumar was pronounced dead. The Sivakumar residence was then locked down by police as a potential crime scene. Sivakumar passed away three days afterward, on Sunday, January 19.
Six days later, on January 22, police interview Patel, who gave several conflicting accounts of what actually happened. She first told investigators that the child woke up from a nap and started behaving strangely, then said that he slipped on some spilled water and fell, causing the head injury. Then on January 24, Patel finally caved and told police the truth.
The child was giving Patel a hard time, making a mess and spitting water at her face. To punish him, Patel picked him up and shook him up and down three or four times, with his feet forcefully hitting the ground, then shook him violently. The child then continued misbehaving, at which point Patel pushed him by putting her hand on his face. The push backward caused the child to hit the back of his head on the wall.
She also said that Patel called the Sivakumars when she realized the child needed medical attention, and they came and took their son to the hospital. Eyewitnesses who live in Patel’s neighborhood confirmed this for police, saying they saw Patel give the boy to his parents, and that the boy appeared “limp.”
Sivakumar’s parents apparently dropped their child off at Patel’s residence four to five times per week, over the past several months. Neighbors who spoke to investigators said that they would often hear banging and crying coming from Patel’s home.
She is now being held on $1 million bail, with a trial date yet to be announced. Murder in the first degree in classified as a Class B felony in Connecticut, meaning it is punishable by up to 20 years behind bars.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com
1 Comment
All babysitters should be made to wear a body camera. This woman was not cut out for baby sitting. She probably took the job as a last resort and the end result is a dead baby.