A Nigerian couple, Arinola 33, and Olalekan Olawusi were arrested in
Providence, Rhode Island, US on Monday, April 3 and arraigned in court
on a felony charges of child neglect, first and degree child abuse.
Providence Journal reports that early Monday afternoon, the frantic father called 911 and said his child was dying. Three-month-old
Tobiloba Olawusi wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse, police say,
but Providence firefighters resuscitated the baby in their rush to
Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
That’s where the medical staff found the
baby had old and new injuries — bite marks and a fractured skull, broken
ribs, arms and legs, said Special Assistant Attorney General Shannon
Signore, chief of the office’s child abuse unit.
The
baby’s mother, Arinola told the police that her
husband, bit the baby and pulled his legs to “make him
grow and strong,”
Whether the child will survive remains to be seen. The baby’s prognosis was still uncertain on Tuesday, Signore said.
The
Olawusis were arraigned Tuesday afternoon, April 4th, exactly 24 hours after
police were called by the hospital to investigate. Arinola Olawusi was
arraigned in Family Court on a felony charge of child neglect. Olalekan
Olawusi was arraigned in District Court on charges of first- and
second-degree child abuse.
A judge set bail at $40,000 with surety for
Olalekan and ordered him to surrender his Nigerian passport. The family
has been living at 49 Constitution St., in the city’s West End. Both parents are ordered not to have any contact with the baby.
The
state Department of Children, Youth and Families has been involved with
the baby since birth, said spokesman Denis Riel. An older sibling is
already in foster placement with a relative, he said.
DCYF is investigating the circumstances around the case and conducting an internal review, Riel said.
Riel
said a caseworker can have contact with a family in state care once a
month, according to national standards, but there is also a network of
community-based providers involved with the family.
There
was no formal complaint about the baby’s care, Riel added
A caseworker
was assigned to the family, however there was no information released
about how often the family was visited or what services were
recommended.
Arinola Olawusi self-published a book — “A to Z
Ways to Achieve Your Goals In Life” — which lists her biography as a
motivational speaker who is “involved with helping pregnant and worried
women and their children.” She wrote that she and her husband, Olalekan
Olawusi, are “blessed with a loving son.”
The jacket says, “She is very passionate about knowledge and information along with motivating and encouraging the hurting.”
360L
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