5-year-old child drowns 18-month-old cousin

[IDrinkaRum]

5-year-old girl drowns her 18-month-old cousin because the baby wouldn't stop crying

They were being watched by a teenager who was napping at the time the incident happened.

This happened in Missouri. According to the article, the minimum age to stand trial is 12.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. Did the 5-year-old run the bath water and then coax the crying 18-month-old into the bathtub? She held the baby's head under the water until he stopped crying?

Why in heaven's name would the babysitter be napping? If I'm putting Child Rum down for a nap (and I want one too), I stay awake long enough to make sure she's asleep before my own eyes are closed (and I know when she's sound asleep because for some reason, her entire body jerks once or twice and then she's good to go for the rest of the night).

This is a sad situation all the way around.

[DrFaroohk]

I read about this a while ago, and I get the feeling the whole murder charge might just be something people drummed up to make it sound more dramatic. I can't seriously see a prosecutor even considering charging a 5 year old.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm fairly certain that this whole case fails the competency measure.

Unless the prosecution can prove that the 5-year-old understands the permanence of death, they don't have a case.

I, too, would like to know what the babysitter was up to while the toddler "would not stop crying." If anyone were to be held responsible for this event, it should be her as the duly appointed parental representative.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2011/06/...r_accident.php

From a local paper. This adds a few new wrinkles, mostly that the 16 year old babysitter was mentally disabled and apparently had a child of her own. My question: If the girl isn't mentally fit enough to know to make sure a child is breathing, then why was she put in charge of the younger kids?

Andara, in that neighborhood of Kansas City, I imagine you learn about the permanence of death pretty quickly.

ETA: Of course, if the babysitter is mentally disabled, then she can't be held criminally responsible. Um...does that seem a bit suspicious to anyone else?

[Andara Bledin]

Seven children in the home, and the grandmother expected the eldest, who she describes as mentally handicapped, to watch the other six?

Since we all agree that the 5-year-old (and, no, I don't believe that they would necessarily understand that concept, no matter what their neighborhood) is not mentally fit to stand trial due to age and lack of mental development, and should the person who was left "in charge" be recognized to not have the appropriate mental capacity to handle the situation, then you move the next step up the chain.

At this point, it would fall to the grandmother, who cannot claim lack of knowledge of her own daughter's mental unfitness for the task she thrust upon her.

I feel sorry for the baby, the cousin who drowned him, the mother who has to choose between the truth and protecting the rest of her family, and the aunt (the mentally handicapped 'sitter'). For the grandmother's lack of judgment, they will all end up suffering to various degrees.

^-.-^