A NURSERY manager killed a baby girl by strapping her to a bean bag face down and tightly swaddled for almost two hours, a court heard.
Genevieve Meehan was found unresponsive and blue at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in May 2022.
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MEN MediaThe horror unfolded at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport[/caption]
The nine-month-old was rushed to hospital but tragically couldn’t be saved and died later that day.
Qualified nursery nurse Kate Roughley, 37, is accused of manslaughter and an alternative count of child cruelty.
Jurors were told in the days before the baby’s death, Roughley “for some inexplicable reason appeared to have taken against Genevieve”.
She was heard telling the tot to “stop your whinging” and told her repeatedly to “go home” when she cried.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC said: “Her hostility to Genevieve was, we say, as illogical as it was disturbing.”
Genevieve, known to her family as Gigi, died from a combination of asphyxia and pathophysiological stress.
Mr Wright said her sleeping position was an “obvious recipe for disaster” after she was left unable to breathe properly.
Manchester Crown Court was told the baby’s decline was not fully realised at the time until CCTV was viewed following her death.
Roughley could be seen heading for a toilet break while telling a colleague: “Just ignore anyone if they start.”
Unsurprisingly, Genevieve was distressed by this treatment but her cries were ignored and she was left tightly swaddled, restrained and covered in this position.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC
Five minutes later, Genevieve moved her head side-to-side and raised her legs in a way “entirely consistent with an increasingly exhausted child desperately thrashing in order to survive”, the court heard.
Mr Wright said: “Genevieve had been put down to sleep in the baby room that afternoon by Kate Roughley.
“Doing so had involved her swaddling Genevieve so tightly that the child was effectively unable to move.”
The court was told the baby was strapped on her front by “means of a harness” on a bean bag rather than a cot or sleeping mat.
She was then “practically” covered from head to foot in a blanket that would have heightened her risk of overheating, jurors heard.
Mr Wright said: “Unsurprisingly, Genevieve was distressed by this treatment but her cries were ignored and she was left tightly swaddled, restrained and covered in this position.”
Genevieve was left virtually immobilised and face down between 1.35pm and 3.12pm, the court heard.
During this time, jurors were told her cries were “simply ignored”.
Final movements
The prosecutor said: “Any level of interest in her wellbeing was during this period, we say, sporadic and, at best, fleeting.
“The risk to Genevieve of asphyxiation and death was both serious and obvious. Yet Kate Roughley ignored it and by the time she checked Genevieve with anything vaguely representing any genuine interest in her condition it was too late.
“The defendant treated Genevieve in a way that all sober and reasonable people would recognise was both dangerous and would, unless averted, subject Genevieve to the risk of some harm.”
Between 2.10pm and 2.12pm, CCTV captured the sounds of crying and coughing for several seconds.
Roughley walked over to Genevieve and pulled up the outer blanket covering the child’s head but the distress continued, it was said.
At 2.24pm, the baby’s final leg movements can be seen as the nursery manager was in the kitchen area, Mr Wright said.
Genevieve go home. Please, I’m even asking nicely. You are driving me bananas.
Katie Roughley to tragic baby
Tragically, jurors heard Roughley checked other children but not Genevieve, who “remained on the beanbag seemingly unchecked and motionless”.
The prosecutor said: “The sad reality is that by this time she had, in all probability, succumbed to the stresses placed on her body and its ability freely to breathe, and had asphyxiated.”
Jurors heard Roughley had previously referred to Genevieve as a “stress head”, and told her: “Genevieve go home. Please, I’m even asking nicely. You are driving me bananas.”
The court was told Roughley is a qualified nursery nurse and early years practitioner with 17 years of experience.
At the time of Genevieve’s death, she was the duty baby room leader and in charge of sleep arrangements.
Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, denies manslaughter and an alternative count of child cruelty.
The trial, estimated to last four weeks, continues.
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