A movie star’s grown daughter has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter, as reported by several national and international news media, when the child she was babysitting for died under her watch.
A.B., 32, the eldest daughter of Hollywood actor B.B.T., said that the child under her care died when she had hit her own head trying to climb out of a playpen.
The child, O.M.G., was a year-old at the time of her death in October 2008.
The incident occurred in the Orlando home of another friend, H.M.
Prosecutors contended that the child’s injuries were not consistent with a fall from the low height of a playpen. They said that A.B.’s story of what had occurred was “impossible”.
O.M.G. had a three and one-half inch fracture to the back of the skull and both bleeding, and swelling, to the back of the brain.
A.B., acquitted on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated
child abuse charges, is expected to be sentenced this July for manslaughter.
The film star and his daughter are no longer in contact.
A.B. was charged in relation to O.M.G.’s death in 2008.
The child’s autopsy showed that she died as a direct result of blunt trauma – she had suffered a fractured skull and brain injury.
A.B. claimed that she witnessed the child fall from the playpen, noticed that her tongue was bleeding, and cleaned her mouth with a paper towel. Afterwards, A.B. further alleged that the child appeared to be “happy”, and that she ate the bananas and fruit snacks that she fed to her.
A.B. told police that she fell asleep on the couch with O.M.G. next to her. Later, when she woke up with the intention of moving O.M.G. back to her playpen, she noticed that the child felt limp and lifeless.
Police have stated that the call asking them to come to the home didn’t happen until two and a half hours after the child fell from the playpen.
In court proceedings, A.B.’s lawyer suggested that there might have been a previous injury that, added to the new accident, caused the child’s death.
A.B.’s estranged father released a statement to CNN via his publicist, that read, “When informed about this situation, he (B.B.T.) commented that, ‘Anytime a baby's life is lost is an unimaginable tragedy and my heart goes out to the baby's family and loved ones.’”
A.B.’s mother, M.P., said, “It's a tragic situation, she loved that little girl so much and it (her death) just crushed her, just devastated her. She was (O.M.G’s) godmother and the mother’s best friend. It's just a horrible situation and it's being made worse and exploding even more just because of who my ex-husband is.”
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