A daycare worker who ignored the “serious and obvious” risks of strapping a baby face down on a beanbag to sleep is facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of manslaughter.
Kate Roughley will receive a maximum sentence of life in prison for the ‘abuse’ of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan – known as ‘Gigi’ – who was left for more than 90 minutes before she was found ‘unresponsive and blue’.
During a month-long trial, jurors heard the 37-year-old, from Heaton Norris, Stockport, showed a ‘lack of sympathy’ towards children, labeling Genevieve as ‘despicable’, a ‘whiner’ and a ‘ diva’.
CCTV footage even showed her ignoring the boy’s cries and desperate last movements as she struggled to survive while tightly tied to the beanbag and wrapped in a blanket.
Roughley, who had 17 years’ experience as a daycare worker but had no children of her own, then ‘lied’ to cover up what she had done, claiming she was constantly checking on the babies in her care.
Kate Roughley (left) arrives at Manchester Crown Court last Friday with her mother Jane (centre) and father Stuart (right)
The prosecutor said Roughley’s “willful conduct,” “abuse” and “lack of effective supervision” caused Genevieve’s death.
Roughley showed no emotion and stared straight ahead as jurors at Manchester Crown Court delivered their verdict after more than five hours of deliberation.
Mrs Judge Ellenbogan adjourned sentencing until Wednesday and remanded Roughley, whose parents were sitting at the back of the courtroom, in custody until then.
Genevieve’s mother, Katie Wheeler, and other family members emotionally embraced outside court and thanked the prosecutor.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Genevieve suffered fatal asphyxiation and pathophysiological stress caused by the ‘unsafe sleeping environment’ at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, on May 9, 2022.
During the trial, prosecutor Peter Wright KC told the jury: ‘Her death was not the result of a terrible or unavoidable accident.
“We say her death was the result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of this defendant.”
On the day of the tragedy, deputy manager Roughley was acting as a leader in the nursery’s understaffed nursery, where she was one of only two staff caring for eleven babies.
Kate Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, was unanimously found guilty of manslaughter
Genevieve had been dropped off by her parents, attorney John Meehan and attorney Katie Wheeler, at 9 a.m. and was found unconscious at 3:12 p.m. She could not be revived and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Mr Wright said the reason for the baby’s condition was not immediately clear but was clear from CCTV footage.
He said Genevieve was put to sleep that afternoon by Roughley, who swaddled her so tightly in a blanket that she could no longer move.
The child was also not placed on her back, per the safe sleep policy, but on her stomach and face down, strapped to a bean using a harness.
A blanket was also placed over her, covering her virtually from head to toe, with the “inevitable consequence” that it would make observations more difficult and increase the risk of overheating.
He said Genevieve was visibly ‘distressed by this treatment’ but her thrashing and screams were ignored and she was left at around 1.35pm until she was discovered unconscious – an hour and 37 minutes later.
Mr Wright said: ‘The risk to her of suffocation and death was, we say, both serious and obvious.
“Yet the defendant ignored it and by the time she visited Genevieve with something that vaguely represented some genuine interest, it was too late.”
The jury heard how the baby had been enrolled in nursery a few weeks earlier in April after ‘thriving’ despite being born prematurely at 35 weeks.
Roughley worked at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport (file photo)
Genevieve had been treated in hospital for bronchiolitis – common in young children – and used an inhaler, but expert witnesses said the condition was not a factor in her death.
Mr Wright said Roughley had shown a “lack of affection” towards Genevieve in the days leading up to the tragedy that was “not just visible, but tangible”.
On the day of Genevieve’s death, Roughley had used the beanbag as a “form of restraint”, Mr Wright said, ignoring safety advice never to place babies face down.
Under cross-examination at the trial, Roughley insisted: ‘I would never dislike a nine-month-old baby. To say I hated her is far from the truth.”
When asked if she thought Genevieve’s death was avoidable, she said: ‘I think it might have been different if I had checked on her a few seconds or minutes earlier.
‘It was common for children to sleep in the bean bag bed.
‘I feel responsible for Genevieve being in my care that day. However, I do not feel that my actions were the reason for the death.”
She denied that calling Genevieve a “whiner” and “a diva” was “malicious.”
Roughley said: ‘We often told children to ‘stop whining’. This was not shouted at the children or said in a malicious manner. All they did was comment throughout the working day.”
Sarah Elliot KC, defending, told the jury that Roughley looked after children in a ‘practical, responsible, no-nonsense but caring way’.
She said the defendant denied failing to make safe sleeping arrangements and had kept Genevieve “closely under surveillance.”