Deputy nursery manager Kate Roughley ‘persecuted’ baby Genevieve for not sleeping enough, a trial heard
A nursery worker has been jailed for 14 years for manslaughter after she strapped a baby girl face down on a bean bag for 90 minutes because she was “too demanding”.
Nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan was also tightly swaddled and covered with a blanket by Kate Roughley, who put her in “mortal danger” with the unsafe sleeping conditions at Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.
The 37-year-old deputy manager at the nursery had “persecuted” the baby, known affectionately as Gigi, for “not sleeping long enough” and failed to conduct adequate checks on the distressed infant, a trial heard.
She was found unresponsive and blue on the afternoon of 2 September 2o24. Despite efforts to save her, she was pronounced dead later that day in hospital.
A jury unanimously found Roughley guilty of manslaughter by ill-treatment this week following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Sentencing her to 14 years in prison on Friday, judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told Roughley that Genevieve’s death was “absolutely avoidable”.
Referring to footage played to the jury of the baby strapped to the bag, she said: “As the harrowing CCTV audio and video footage showed, that day you left Genevieve in that position only carrying the most cursory and infrequent of checks.
“I am certain that every person in this courtroom who watched that footage was willing you to pick her up and remove her from the danger you had placed her, knowing of course that you didn’t.”
The court continued, saying, “It was evident that you at times displayed antipathy and frustration with Genevieve and at best considered her to be a nuisance.”
As Genevieve’s sobbing became more intense on the bean bag, she said that her interactions with her “palpably lacked any care, kindness or concern for her wellbeing” and that she “left her to die.”
Genevieve, the daughter of barrister John Meehan and solicitor Katie Wheeler, died from asphyxiation brought on by a combination of pathophysiological stresses created by a “very unsafe sleeping environment”.
Roughley put Genevieve in “mortal danger” as she was “banished” to the bean bag for earlier not sleeping long enough for her liking, the court heard.
Following the verdict, Genevieve’s parents said they would “never forgive the callousness” of Roughley for treating their daughter with “cruelty and contempt”.
Mr Meehan said: “She was entrusted with the care of our daughter, yet she put her own convenience and selfish interests above Genevieve’s life.
“She has shown no remorse for Genevieve’s death. Her expressions of sorrow during the trial were as insincere as they were insulting.
“For many, Genevieve is just a baby that was seen on CCTV or discussed in evidence during this trial. But to us she is our precious and wonderful daughter and she is not to be defined by the manner of her death.
“She was a person. She loved to laugh, to play with her tambourine, to eat spaghetti bolognese and spend time with her big sister.”
Some jurors were in tears at the start of the trial as they first watched nursery CCTV footage of the baby room which captured the tragedy unfolding as Genevieve was left “virtually immobilised” from 1.35pm to 3.12pm.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC said the youngster’s desperate fight for survival was clear but her crying and the thrashing and writhing of her body were routinely and repeatedly ignored.
Roughley paid “lip service” to any meaningful checks and Genevieve’s wellbeing until it was too late, he said.
According to reports, she was acting out of a “illogical and disturbing hostility” toward the child, which was captured on further CCTV tape from September 2nd.
The prosecution said that Roughley gave her “rough handling,” referring to her as a “stress head” and once telling her to “go home.” Do you really need to be that noisy all the time? Modify the document.
Roughley sang, “Genevieve go home,” and “stop whingeing” to her. I’m even asking politely, please. I’m not wearing pajamas, and you are driving me crazy.
Genevieve’s death, according to the defence, was a “terrible and unavoidable accident” rather than the consequence of any illegal activity.
Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, enrolled in Tiny Toes as soon as he graduated from college.
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