US mum charged for putting baby in oven instead of crib
A mother in the United States has been charged for causing the death of her baby by placing the infant in an oven instead of a crib.
The mother, whom the authorities identified as Mariah Thomas from Kansas City in the midwestern state of Missouri, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, causing death.
If found guilty, the 26-year-old could be sentenced to a jail term of between 10 years and life.
Kansas city police officers on Feb 9 found the one-month-old baby girl with “apparent burns”, after responding to an emergency call about “a non-breathing infant”.
“They were told the mother of the child was putting the child down for a nap and accidentally placed the child in the oven instead of the crib,” said the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Missouri in a news release.
The baby was declared dead by emergency personnel at the scene of the incident.
American weekly magazine People, citing a charge sheet, reported that the infant had “apparent thermal injuries on various parts of her body”.
“She was clothed in a bodysuit over a diaper. The clothing appeared to have melted onto the diaper, and it was very dirty, possibly burned on the backside,” according to the document.
The police also found a “baby blanket with significant burn marks”, the document added.
Thomas lived with her parents, who were not at home when the incident occurred.
At about 1pm on Feb 9, the baby’s grandmother received a call from a hysterical Thomas.
The grandmother told her husband “something was wrong with the baby”, according to court documents.
Upon reaching home, the grandfather told the authorities that he could smell smoke and found the newborn dead in her crib.
The baby’s mother told the grandfather that she “accidentally put her in the oven”, according to NBC News.
A neighbour, Ms Corinne Foreman, said she heard someone shouting loudly, followed by sounds of sirens.
“And the next thing you know, I just heard, ‘They’re gone. They’re gone,’” Ms Foreman told local newspaper Kansas City Star.
A friend of Thomas, who declined to be identifed, told news website The Daily Beast that the woman has suffering from mental illnesses for a long time.
“Mariah has been dealing with mental illnesses since she was a child,” the friend said, adding that Thomas said she stopped taking medication for her conditions while pregnant.
Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said: “We acknowledge the gruesome nature of this tragedy and our hearts are weighted by the loss of this precious life. We trust the criminal justice system to respond appropriately to these awful circumstances.”
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