A licensed practical nurse last week was nabbed by authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport and charged with murder after the 23-month-old Rosedale girl who she was hired to care for died due to complications of thermal injury, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Oluyemisi Adebayo, 54, who lives in St. Albans, was picked up last Wednesday as she attempted to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to her native Nigeria and arraigned the following morning on a criminal complaint charging her with second-degree murder—homicide of a person under the age of 11, court records show.
Adebayo was ordered held without bail and to return to court on May 15. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
According to the charges, Adebayo is a licensed nurse practitioner who was hired to take care of the severely developmentally delayed girl in the child’s Rosedale residence. Hospital records indicate that the child was taken to Nassau University Medical Center on April 24 for burns, Brown said.
Doctors performed surgery on the girl in order to treat second- and third-degree immersion scald burns that covered approximately 50 percent of her body. The child died three days later and the preliminary findings of an autopsy were consistent with the cause of death being due to complications of thermal injury.
According to the criminal complaint, Adebayo stated that she had prepared a bath for the child on April 21, and tested the tub water with her hand before placing the child in the baby tub. When Adebayo removed the child from the baby tub, it is alleged that she noticed that the girl’s skin was falling off her legs.
Crime Scene Unit detectives performed water temperature tests on the faucet that Adebayo said was used to fill the baby tub. The tests allegedly revealed that the maximum water temperature for the faucet was 130 degrees, and that it took approximately 120 seconds for the temperature to reach the maximum level, Brown said.
According to the complaint, medical personnel stated that Adebayo’s account of how the child came to be burned was inconsistent with the nature and severity of the injuries. It is alleged that the child’s burns were consistent with her having been submerged up to her waist in 130-degree water for approximately 30 seconds.
Calls to Adebayo’s attorney seeking comment were not returned.
Brown said that Adebayo “had been trained to heal and save lives—which she is accused of failing to fulfill. 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.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
