Ruth Auta, a Nigerian nurse based in the UK, has been sentenced to three years in prison for neglecting her ten week old baby and leaving him to die while she went to work at a hospital.
Report has it that the 28-year-old single mother left her infant unattended to in her nurse’s accommodation for eight hours while she worked a shift at the Royal Bolton Hospital on December 20, 2022.
Auta discovered Joshua Motionless in his cot when she returned home and immediately called emergency services.
Unfortunately, despite resuscitation efforts, the baby was pronounced dead an hour after the arrival of medical practitioners.
According to tests been carried out, the baby may have overheated due to being excessively clothed and covered with heavy bedding.
The Nigeria mother was charged with inhumanity to a child and pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on May 24, 2024.
During the investigation, CCTV footage and text messages did not correspond with her initial claim that she had picked up Joshua from a childminder and found him motionless after falling asleep with him.
Meanwhile, the footage showed her leaving and returning to her accommodation without her child, and messages revealed she had instructed the childminder to falsely claim she had cared for Joshua that day.
Auta attempted to flee the country in June 2024, before she was apprehended at Gatwick Airport with a one-way ticket to Nigeria.
Sara Davie, a District Crown Prosecutor while delivering the verdict, said, “As a nurse, Ruth Auta should have been aware of the dangers of leaving her child unattended.
“Her failure to provide the necessary care and her attempts to evade justice demonstrate her lack of remorse.”
