Nanny convicted of murder, child abuse for force-feeding a baby to death

A Maryland nanny was convicted of murder after prosecutors successfully argued that she poured almost 8 ounces of formula down a baby girl’s throat in less than 30 seconds, essentially drowning her.

Oluremi Adeleye, 73, declined a trial by jury and a judge ruled on her case. 

The baby’s father, Influence Salubi, testified that he returned home to his 8-month-old daughter, who was lifeless and had milk streaming from her nose.

“What did you do?! What happened?!” Salubi screamed at the nanny, according to the Washington Post, before attempting to suck liquid from his daughter Enita’s face. 

“You left home with a live baby and come home with a dead baby. It’s not something I can forget,” Salubi said in court. 

Enita died Oct. 24, 2016. She would have turned 3 during the trial. 

What the nanny said

A nanny camera captured the incident between Adeleye and the baby on video.

Defense lawyers for Adeleye, who was arrested under her married name of Oluremi Oyindasola, said she was “cup feeding” the child. They described it as pouring liquid into the hand to give the child food when they need to eat, but don’t want to, according to the Post.

Adeleye, a mother of five and grandmother of 10, said that feeding children so they don’t go hungry is customary in her home country of Nigeria and she didn’t mean to hurt the baby.

“I did what I needed to do to make sure the baby had food in the stomach,” she said through an interpreter. 

What the nanny cam video showed

Court footage showed the nanny lying on a couch and Enita bouncing in a walker. The baby pulled at Adeleye, who got up after a few minutes and attempted to give Enita a bottle.  

Eventually, Adeleye removed the nipple and lid from the bottle and poured the milk into the baby’s mouth as she squirmed. The 8-ounce bottle was almost full and was drained in less than a minute, footage showed.

The infant wriggled in the nanny’s arms before falling to the ground, then Adeleye picked her up and attempted to give her more milk from a second bottle, according to the video.

Enita eventually went “limp like a rag doll,” according to the Post’s description, with Adeleye “rocking the baby for minutes, trying to make her alert and wiping the girl’s face as her head flops back and forth.”

Adeleye was found guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree child abuse and child abuse resulting in death. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 3, according to Yahoo.

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha N. Braveboy said the nanny camera played a key role in securing a conviction, according to the Post.