QUEENS — A home health aide killed a severely developmentally disabled 22-month-old girl in her care by bathing her in scalding hot water and then tried to flee the country, authorities said.
Oluyemis Adebayo, 54, a nurse practitioner who was hired to care for little Naomi Mondesire, was arrested at the airport just before she was about to board a flight to Africa and charged with the second-degree murder of the child, police and prosecutors said.
The toddler died on Monday, three days after she was severely burned, police said.
“The defendant had been trained to heal and save lives — which she is accused of failing to fulfill," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "The tiny victim suffered extraordinarily painful injuries for several days before she died. This is a terribly sad and tragic case that could have been prevented.”
On Wednesday night, Adebayo was waiting for her arraignment for the charges in Queens Criminal Court.
Police said that during the course of the bath at the child's St. Albans home, Naomi suffered second and third-degree burns that covered half her body.
The nurse said that when she took Naomi out of the tub, she noticed that the child’s skin was falling off her legs, prosecutors said.
Emergency workers rushed the toddler to Nassau County Medical Center just after 7:30 p.m. on April 24, according to the Queens District Attorney.
The baby's wounds were consistent with having been submerged up to her waist in 130-degree water for around 30 seconds, which conflicted with Adebayo's account of what had happened, prosecutors said.
The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death and the investigation is ongoing, police said.
No information about Adebayo's lawyer was immediately available and Naomi's family could not be reached for immediate comment.
