Nursery worker caused death of baby girl in her care'

COURT TOLD THAT CHILD WAS TIGHTLY SWADDLED AND LAID ON HER FRONT

- KIM PILLING

THE deputy manager of a nursery caused the death of a baby girl who she placed face down, tightly swaddled and strapped to a bean bag for more than an hour and a half, a court has heard.

Kate Roughley, 37, is accused of the manslaughter by ill-treatment of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan, who she found unresponsive and blue on the afternoon of May 9 2022 at the Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.

Staff and then paramedics attempted to revive Genevieve, known to her family as Gigi, but her condition was irreversible and she was pronounced dead later that day in hospital.

Opening the case yesterday at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Peter Wright KC told jurors that strapping a child to a bean bag on their front was an "obvious recipe for disaster" and led to the death of the youngster from a combination of asphyxia and pathophysiological stress.

He said the reason for Genevieve's decline was not fully realised at the time but the picture became "much clearer" when CCTV within the baby room was later viewed.