File Photo
Little Kevasia died shortly after arriving at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.
By Forum Staff
A 31-year-old Far Rockaway mother could face 17 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter in the fatal beating death of her two-year-old daughter in February 2014.
Ashley Diaz, is slated for sentencing on February 1, 2017.
Criminal charges revealed that Diaz had gone grocery shopping around 5:30 p.m. on February 3, 2014, a neighbor was watching 2-year-old Kevasia. The toddler was asleep when the sitter got there and when she woke up the sitter stated that she was pale and lethargic. When asked if she were ok the toddler responded she was.
Later that night at approximately 11:15 p.m. on February 3, 2014, the same babysitter received a call from the defendant stating that Kevasia was not breathing and was unresponsive. When the sitter returned to Diaz’s apartment, she observed Kevasia lying unresponsive on the floor. The babysitter began CPR at which time she observed Kevasia’s face to be red and bruised, her lip bleeding and her teeth pushed in and jutting out in different directions and some teeth were missing. The sitter’s sister called 911 as the neighbor continued performing CPR.
Kevasia was taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, arriving in cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 12:02 a.m. on February 4, 2014. The child had both old and fresh bruising on her face, legs and torso. Two ribs had been fractured and there was scarring on her right foot consistent with a prior burn. Medical personnel at the hospital said that injuries were inconsistent with the history given by Diaz who said that her daughter had a seizure and fell to the ground recently.
Diaz admitted that her daughter was acting normally and in good health during the time she was the sole caregiver – from approximately Friday, January 31, 2014, until February 3, 2014, when 911 was called with the exception of the twenty minutes she left to buy groceries.
Diaz said that at 9:30 p.m. on February 3, 2014, Kevasia had a seizure and fell to the ground and became unresponsive, and that she sat by her daughter for at least 30 minutes while the child was unresponsive and not breathing. Diaz additionally stated that she did not call anyone for help until after 11:00 p.m. on February 3, 2014.
An autopsy report, issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, stated that Kevasia Edward suffered multiple fresh and old bruising to her face, neck, torso and legs, multiple scalp abrasions and lacerations, multiple scars of varying ages about her body and other markings consistent with trauma. Kevasia also suffered subdural bleeding, hemorrhaging resulting from multiple impacts of varying ages underneath the scalp, bilateral optical nerve sheath hemorrhages, hemorrhage resulting from impact to her lower back, two healing rib fractures and traumatic liver injuries. The autopsy report preliminary medical findings were consistent with Abusive Head Trauma with multiple, violent impacts to her head and body.
