File Photo
By Forum Staff
A St. Albans woman convicted of depraved assault and other crimes after her 19-month-old foster son was discovered with severe burns on his lower extremities has been sentenced to 13 years in prison.
“This was a senseless tragedy that easily could have been avoided. As a caregiver with sole responsibility for the life and safety of a young child, the defendant had an obligation to provide a safe environment and to keep him from harm. Instead she stands convicted of having acted in a depraved manner by holding the child in scalding hot water. As a result, the child will be permanently scarred – both physically and emotionally – by that which occurred. Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the crime,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Shirley Verneus, 37, was convicted in March of first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child following a two-week jury trial. She was sentenced last Wednesday to 13 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.
According to the charges, Verneus brought her then-19-month-old foster son, Jaurelious Green, to the St. Christopher Ottile Foster Agency in Queens on January 17, 2014, for a scheduled visit with his biological parents. During the visit, a St. Christopher caseworker observed bandages around the child’s legs and asked Verneus what had happened to the child.
Verneus, who was the child’s sole caretaker, claimed that she was in another room inside her St. Albans residence and heard the child, who was in the bathroom unattended with a three-year-old, screaming. Verneus told the caseworker that she observed Jaurelious sitting in the bathtub with the water running and that when she removed the child from the tub she observed his skin peeling off. Verneus then told the caseworker that she took Jaurelious to a medical clinic but she could neither provide any information or documentation regarding such a visit nor had she reported the injury to the foster care agency.
The victim was taken later that day from the St. Christopher Ottile Foster Agency to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Burn Unit, where medical personnel stated that Jaurelious suffered second- and third-degree burns – from the top of his thighs down to the soles of his feet on both legs and burns on his buttocks. A further examination by medical personnel at Weill Cornell indicated that Jaurelious will suffer severe permanent scarring and will likely require plastic surgery to alleviate some of the damage caused by the burns. Medical evidence also proved that the defendant further acted in a depraved manner by failing to seek prompt medical attention for more than a week which caused the potential for life-threatening infections and other serious complications.
