The mother of a toddler who died after she was left alone for 10 days has received a lifetime prison sentence.
32-year-old Kristel Candelario had left 16-month-old Jailyn alone to go for a holiday in Puerto Rico in June 2023.
Source: NBC News
The child died from starvation and severe dehydration due to paediatric neglect, NBC News reported.
According to CNN, Candelario left her daughter alone for more than a week while she went on summer vacation.
She left little Jailyn in a playpen in their Ohio home with just a few bottles of milk.
Source: WKYC via NBC News
A neighbour’s doorbell camera recorded the toddler’s screams — including a cry in the middle of the night — two days after her mother left.
On 16 June 2023, ten days after Candelario left to visit Puerto Rico and Detroit, she returned home to her daughter lying on a mattress covered in urine and faeces.
According to NBC News, the case was ruled a homicide after a medical examiner found that Jailyn died from starvation and severe dehydration.
The toddler was also reported to have weighed seven pounds or 3.2kg less than her weight on her last doctor’s visit less than two months before.
Candelario was charged with Jailyn’s death shortly after.
Source: WKYC
During her sentencing, Candelario told the court she was facing emotional and mental problems after attempting to take her own life at the start of 2023.
She said she left Jailyn unattended to travel due to her mental state. The 32-year-old claimed the decision to leave was an “impulse”.
“I simply wanted to get away from a life of stress, depression and anxiety, I didn’t want to continue living,” NBC News quoted Candelario as saying.
Source: Cleveland19 News
In an effort to plead her case, Candelario’s attorney Derek Smith told the court she had stopped taking her antidepressant medication without tapering down the dosage, which can cause side effects.
Smith claimed Candelario was “not thinking clearly”, according to NBC News.
However, Judge Brendan Sheehan showed no mercy. On 18 March, he sentenced Candelario to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Just as you didn’t let Jailyn out of her confinement until she died, so too should you spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom,” he said.
“The only difference is that prison will at least feed you.”
Also read: Toddler In M’sia Suffocates To Death After Mother Accidentally Leaves Her In Car For 7 Hours
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Featured image adapted from Cleveland19 News and WKYC via NBC News.
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