Ohio Mother Sentenced to Up to 10 Years for Severe Child Abuse After RESCUE OF MALNOURISHED DAUGHTER
An Ohio mother whose nearly-starved 16-pound 3-year-old daughter was rescued by cops from a feces-covered, bug-infested apartment will face years in prison.
Rabyah Muballigh, 26, was sentenced to 7 to 10 1/2 years on Thursday for aggravated child abuse involving her daughter, according to a news release from the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Muballigh pleaded no contest to counts of felonious assault and endangering children, according to online court documents.
Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David D. Hayes described it as the worst case of child abuse he’d encountered in his 20-year career.
“Muballigh is going to prison for several years, as she should,” he stated in the press statement. “Her primary responsibility was to care for that child and she failed to do that and caused that child serious physical harm.”
Muballigh, who prosecutors claimed had only taken her child to see a pediatrician once, testified in court that she has spent the previous six months praying for her daughter every night, according to Dayton CBS station WHIO.
“I should have gotten help sooner so she wouldn’t have been hurt the way she was,” she added, according to the station. “I kind of gave up.” I stopped getting out of bed, showering, and eating. The only time I got up was to feed her, and it wasn’t enough. “I should’ve done more.”
Her defense attorney, Lucas Wilder, told the Dayton Daily News in June that she had a difficult childhood, suffered from depression, had given up another daughter for adoption, and had delivered a stillborn child before her toddler was discovered.
“While not an excuse for her inaction, Rabyah was suffering from extreme mental health issues at the time she failed her duties,” Wilder told the local media.
Prosecutors said on July 17 that the biological father, Corey Michael Moody, 29, had been charged with one count each of endangering minors, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence. He is in custody, and his bail is set at $100,000. His trial is scheduled for October 7.
The situation was brought to light on January 8. According to authorities, Muballigh contacted 911 under a false identity and informed officers that a 2- or 3-year-old girl was having difficulties breathing.
Law&Crime reported on the girl’s dramatic rescue, which was captured on Fairborn Police Department body camera film around 1 p.m. that day inside Muballigh’s ground-floor apartment in the 300 block of Wallace Drive, roughly 60 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
The footage shows the apartment strewn with debris and discarded food. Several unfurled sticky-paper fly traps are visible, almost totally covered with dead flies. Trash looks to be piled almost six feet high in some places.
“Oh my God,” one of the officers can be heard saying before they find the girl.
When cops unlocked the door to her room, they discovered the youngster — who is obscured in the video — malnourished and cowering in a corner, covered with insect bites. Prosecutors say she was only wearing one solid diaper.
She was lying on the ground, close to a feces and urine-covered mattress. Roach-like bugs can be found on the floors and walls.
The officers initially believe the youngster is dead, but when she struggles for oxygen, they are relieved she is still alive. As they check on the victim, the officers remove blankets from the walls that cover the windows to allow more light in.
The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for several weeks before being released. According to the Dayton Daily News, she is currently with her sister’s adoptive family.
Muballigh was also present at the time, and officers swiftly discovered that she had dialed 911 and given the dispatcher a false name. She was arrested, and police tape shows her starting to cry before the officer pulls away from the property.