A babysitter from Mom’s day Care Centre, a daycare center in Triolet was arrested for negligence on Thursday, March 9, following the death of Winsley Appou, a three-and-a-half-year-old baby on the morning of Wednesday, March 8. The child died because of asphyxiation due to aspiration of his stomach contents. The babysitter was later released on a bail of Rs 20,000 after her appearance before the court in Pamplemousses.
Since February 23, the child was entrusted to the care of this nursery. On Wednesday, March 8, the little boy who lives in Pointe aux Piments was dropped off at this daycare center around 7:30 am. An hour and a quarter later the babysitter gave the child his first bottle of milk, but he only drank twenty milliliters instead of one hundred. He did not want to drink more. Three-quarters of an hour after burping the child, according to the director of this nursery who gave a statement to the police, the babysitter put him in his crib and he fell asleep. It was while changing his diaper at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 8, that another babysitter noticed traces of blood on the baby’s lips. He was taken immediately to the Mediclinic of Triolet where the doctor on duty, after having given him some care, found that he was already dead.
The parents of the baby are devastated. They find it difficult to accept this harsh reality because Winsley was a healthy child, they say. His mother Elleza took care of him for three months before going back to work. Winsley, who was born by cesarean section, was growing well.
The baby’s body was later taken to the morgue of the Dr. A.G. Jeetoo Hospital, Port Louis for an autopsy. The autopsy, performed by Dr. Prem Chamane, Principal Police Medical Officer, attributed the death to asphyxiation due to aspiration of the contents of his stomach.
The funeral of little Winsley Appou took place yesterday. After the funeral ceremony at the church of Fatina in Triolet, he was buried in the cemetery of Bois Marchand in Terre-Rouge.
