Mother Ends Up In Jail For Abandoning 10 Weeks Old Child
Wonders they say shall never end. It was like another drama but it happened for real in the United Kingdom.
An NHS Nigerian Nurse left her 10-week-old baby to die while she went to work. UK court on September 11, 2024 sentenced her to jail for three years.
The NHS nurse, Ruth Auta, 28 left the ten-week-old baby and went to work. The nurse, a single mother abandoned Joshua Akerele in her nurse’s accommodation for eight hours so she could work her shift on December 20, 2022.
When Auta returned to her room, she found Joshua lifeless in his cot and dialled 999, telling operators her son was not breathing.
Curiosly, the infant was pronounced dead an hour later with tests showed that he may have ‘overheated’ due to the layers of clothing and bedding he was wrapped in.
Auta initially told the police that she had collected Joshua from a childminder after she had finished work, took him back home, fed him, placed him on her bed and then fell asleep next to him.
She claimed that when she woke up, she found him unresponsive.
Later on, when UK police interviewed her, she gave no comment to questions asked and was freed on bail pending further investigation.
Auta was charged after police found CCTV of her leaving and entering her accommodation without Joshua on the day of the tragedy.
Officers also discovered incriminating texts in which she urged her childminder to say she was looking after Joshua that day.
The childminder told officers she had not seen the infant for a number of days.
Auta was charged with cruelty to a child and pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates’ court on May 24, 2024 with her case adjourned by a month for sentence.
On June 6, the nurse who worked at Royal Bolton Hospital tried to flee the country.
But she was detained at Gatwick while attempting to board the flight to her native Nigeria, having purchased a one-way ticket.
Auta was sentenced to three years in jail when she appeared at Bolton Crown Court on 10 September.
Sara Davie, District Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: ‘Whilst she went to work to provide care for other people, Ruth Auta, 28, left the very person who needed her care the most home alone.
‘As a nurse she should have known the dangers of leaving her baby unattended. As she begins her sentence, she must now live with the consequences of the terrible decision she made that day.
‘Auta has failed to show remorse throughout the case. She misled police about her childcare arrangements and then tried to evade justice by attempting to flee the country.
‘Our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who been affected by Joshua’s death.’
Prosecutors said she left her nurse’s accommodation shortly after 6.30am to carry out her shift leaving behind her Joshua.
At 3.24pm Auta called for an ambulance reporting that her son was not breathing.
Despite attempts to resuscitate him, Joshua could not be saved and was pronounced dead at 4.40pm.
Experts could not confirm the exact cause of Joshua’s death as he was said to be a ‘healthy baby in all respects’.
An inquest into Joshua’s death was opened and adjourned in Bolton in January this year.