‘I dropped my baby off at nursery – then I got the phone call he had stopped breathing’

The first time Masi Sibanda dropped her son Noah off at nursery, she was a wrack of nerves.

The 32-year-old social worker fretted over how her only child would react to her leaving for the first time.

She told Metro: ‘People had told me that children cry when you first leave them.

‘But he didn’t. That’s how relaxed he was. He kind of just went, “Well, I’m here now,” and barely acknowledged me when I left.

‘He was such an easy-going little boy, he took after his father.’

She said she trusted the staff who gave her a ‘reassuring sense of familiarity’.

‘It was the same way we trust the GP or the hospital. It’s not something you’d ever second-guess. “Am I safe here? Are these people kind? Are they cruel? Are they malicious?”’

Noah, who at 14 months had not yet learned to walk or speak, never showed any signs of distress in his half a year at Fairytales.

The only concern Masi had was the lack of Vaseline for her baby’s nappy rash, but she put this to the back of her mind as the staff seemed very busy.

‘He was always happy to be picked up’, she said. ‘It’s sad because obviously, he couldn’t talk.

‘And that’s part of the guilt that we face as parents – that he couldn’t tell us what was happening.

‘I wish I could have picked up on the cues, but there was nothing that made me worry for his life.’

But on December 9, everything changed, and the morning now haunts Masi forever.

She told Metro: ‘‘It was very cold that morning, and it feels now as if the world was trying to warn me somehow. I was heavily pregnant, very sick and the roads were treacherous.

‘I have over-analysed that moment. I remember handing him over to a different member of staff I wasn’t used to.

‘I was getting on with the rest of the day until we got the call just after 3pm that we needed to get to the nursery.

‘I just thought he was a little ill, so I packed some Calpol and a few other things. It was only on the drive over they said he wasn’t breathing.’

The nursery workers called 999 and took him to hospital, but he was pronounced dead.

After a two-year investigation, nursery worker Kimberley Cookson, was charged with gross negligence manslaughter.

The nursery’s director and business owner Deborah Latewood, was charged with failing to comply with general duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

During a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, CCTV from inside the nursery shows Cookson lying Noah face down on a soft cushion during nap time.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Noah was tightly wrapped in a sleeping bag with a blanket over his head and laid face down to sleep by Cookson.

She then pinned him down with her leg to force him to take a nap when he did not want to, the court heard.

It was only after a ‘considerable’ amount of time that staff realised that Noah was not breathing. 

Masi hasn’t brought herself to watch the footage herself; she can only bear to look at stills.

Ms Sibanda said: ‘The nursery didn’t explain anything to us. They were open and back to business the next week.

‘They told other parents Noah was just a poorly boy and shifted the blame onto us.’

Cookson, 23, later admitted gross negligence manslaughter. Latewood, 55, admitted a Health and Safety at Work Act offence on the basis that she did not know children were being put down to sleep in a dangerous way, but she should have known.

The nursery, named the ‘Nursery of the Year’ for the Midlands in 2020, has now been closed.

Reflecting on Cookson, Masi said: ‘Sometimes I’d see her in the car park. My overall impression was fine. I put her slightly awkward, non-talkative mannerisms down to her personality.

‘I can be like that around people, but I would never think that this person kills children.’

Masi has since called for Ofsted to introduce stricter checks, including more unannounced inspections and greater use of accessible CCTV in nurseries.

‘I get so sick of people just saying more CCTV in nurseries, it is not enough.My baby was killed on CCTV. Kids are still abused on CCTV.

‘It needs to be easily accessible to parents so they can see the behaviour of staff and make their minds up if they want their children in that nursery.

‘Once you close the door it becomes secretive; they hated us peeking in. They claimed it was for the safety of the other children but we now know that is not true.’

Masi gave birth to Noah’s little sister, called Mali just ten days after his funeral.

‘They look exactly the same, but their personalities are so different,’ Masi said. ‘She is very hyper. It feels like a betrayal of Noah to drop her off at pre-school – because that was the mistake we made with him – trusting people.

‘But she’s very engaged and curious. She wants to talk to people, so we have no choice but to let her go out into the world.

‘Noah wasn’t like that. He was more reserved. Maybe he would have changed to be more like her.

‘But we will never know. That’s what Kimberley took from us.’

The nursery, Deborah Latewood and Cookson are due to be sentenced on April 16.

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