Nursery nurse guilty of killing baby girl she found ‘too demanding’

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A nursery nurse who strapped a baby girl face down onto a bean bag after considering her “too demanding” has been convicted of manslaughter.

Nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan was also tightly swaddled and covered with a blanket by Kate Roughley, who put her to sleep when she was in her care at Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.

The 37-year-old deputy manager at the nursery had decided to punish the baby, known affectionately to her family as Gigi, for “not sleeping long enough” on the afternoon of 9 May 2022, the trial heard.

Genevieve’s lifeless body was discovered before colleagues and then paramedics attempted to revive the baby. But the girl’s condition was irreversible and she was pronounced dead later that day in hospital.

On Monday, a jury of six men and six women at Manchester Crown Court unanimously found Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, guilty of manslaughter following a four-week trial.

Genevieve’s mother, Katie Wheeler, appeared emotional in the public gallery as the verdict was read out.

In the trial, a statement from her recalled dropping off her daughter, telling her “I love you sweetie”, before receiving a phone call from the nursery to say her daughter had been found unresponsive.

The child died from asphyxiation brought on by a combination of pathophysiological stresses that was a direct result of Roughley’s actions in creating a “very unsafe sleeping environment”, said the prosecution.

Peter Wright KC said the defendant had placed Genevieve in “mortal danger” with the sleeping arrangements, also inappropriately covering her with a blanket, and then deliberately did nothing about it.

In his closing speech to the jurors, Mr Wright said: “She considered Genevieve was occupying too much of her time and was too vocal, too demanding, so she was going to do something about it.

“Genevieve was being punished for her earlier perceived misdemeanours, for not sleeping long enough for her liking. She was being banished to the bean bag and restrained.

“It was a recipe for disaster, and disaster there followed.”

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.

Mr Wright 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.

Her actions were said to be fuelled by an “illogical and disturbing hostility” towards the youngster which was revealed on further CCTV footage from 5 and 6 May, including Roughley singing “stop whingeing” to her.

Roughley told the jury that the swaddling and the harness restraint were not so tight that it unduly restricted her movements, she said, and that “kicking her legs” and “tossing and turning” were not out of character for Genevieve.

Roughley was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon.