Mum’s tragic final words to baby before she was ‘killed’ by nursery manager who ‘strapped her face down to bean bag’
A MUM has told a court her heartbreaking final words to her baby before she was allegedly killed by a nursery manager.
Kate Roughley, 37, is accused of suffocating Genevieve Meehan by strapping her face down to a bean bag chair for almost two hours.
The nine-month-old was found unresponsive and blue at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, after her cries were “simply ignored”.
Her mum Katie Wheeler told Manchester Crown Court about Genevieve’s final hours before she was dropped off at the nursery by her parents.
She said: “I had put suncream on her, which she found ticklish and funny.
“When I dropped her off [at nursery] I said to her ‘I love you, sweetie’.
“[Genevieve’s dad] John told me he watched her go in and she seemed happy and then I went home and went to work.”
Her mum told jurors Genevieve had been in hospital a few weeks before the horror and was treated for bronchiolitis.
The baby had been given an inhaler but was weaned off it and was “in good health” before returning to nursery.
Katie said she is a “very cautious and careful person by nature” but was not concerned by Genevieve’s health before her return.
Recalling the day Genevieve died, dad John told the court he received a phonecall from his wife saying their daughter had been found unresponsive.
He was then told the baby was being taken to A&E at Stepping Hill Hospital.
When he arrived, John could see doctors battling to save the stricken youngster.
The dad added: “I remained in hospital as doctors tried to save her. I saw Katie and her mother leave the room. Doctors and nurses approached me and asked if I wanted to go with them.
“I wanted to stay with Genevieve. I overheard the doctors having a conversation about stopping CPR. We were then told they were going to stop treatment and they could not save Genevieve.”
Her hostility to Genevieve was, we say, as illogical as it was disturbing.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC
Genevieve, known to her family as Gigi, died from a combination of asphyxia and pathophysiological stress in May 2022.
Qualified nursery nurse Roughley is accused of manslaughter and an alternative count of child cruelty.
Jurors were told Roughley “for some inexplicable reason appeared to have taken against Genevieve” in the days before the baby’s death.
She was heard telling the tot to “stop your whinging” and told her repeatedly to “go home” when she cried.
Prosecutor Peter Wright KC said: “Her hostility to Genevieve was, we say, as illogical as it was disturbing.”
The court was told the baby was strapped on her front by “means of a harness” on a bean bag rather than a cot or sleeping mat.
She was then “practically” covered from head to foot in a blanket that would have heightened her risk of overheating, jurors heard.
Mr Wright said her sleeping position was an “obvious recipe for disaster” after she was left unable to breathe properly.
He added said: “Unsurprisingly, Genevieve was distressed by this treatment but her cries were ignored and she was left tightly swaddled, restrained and covered in this position.”
Genevieve's mum pays tribute in court
In a moving statement, the mum said: “I wish to make this statement to talk about and honour my beautiful daughter Genevieve. Gigi was not just a baby, she was a person with her likes and dislikes, her loves and her frustrations. She was a complete person.
“Owing to her beautiful French name, she adopted a French persona in our house and was often voiced by me with a French accent. We used to joke it would be very strange when she started talking properly and would not actually speak French.
“She spent lots of time playing on her toy mat and she was able to support herself while standing, and was also moving around on the floor with great determination and speed, babbling as she liked to and saying ‘dada dada’.”
Genevieve was left virtually immobilised and face down between 1.35pm and 3.12pm, the court heard.
CCTV showed Roughley heading for a toilet break while telling a colleague: “Just ignore anyone if they start.”
Five minutes later, Genevieve moved her head side-to-side and raised her legs in a way “entirely consistent with an increasingly exhausted child desperately thrashing in order to survive”, the court heard.
Tragically, jurors heard Roughley checked other children but not the baby, who “remained on the beanbag seemingly motionless”.
The court was told she is a qualified nursery nurse and early years practitioner with 17 years of experience.
At the time of Genevieve’s death, she was the duty baby room leader and in charge of sleep arrangements.
Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, denies manslaughter and an alternative count of child cruelty.
The trial continues.
