1-year-old Virginia boy dies after mother left him alone in a bathtub
"She left a child in the bathtub in scalding hot water — I can't imagine — it is hard to fathom that".
A mother from Virginia has been charged with homicide as her one-year-old boy died at a hospital on Thursday (1 February) after he was left alone in a bathtub in Mathews County.
Miranda Dawn Gilbert told reporters that she had left the baby in the bathtub for five minutes, and when she returned, she found the child's head face down in the water.
On Thursday, authorities had received a call on 911 reporting about the incident in Mathews County, WNCN television station reported.
The child was taken to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital but died shortly after arriving.
On Friday, when WAVY-TV reporters visited the mother and tried to talk to her, she told them, "I wish people would leave me alone. I wish people were considerate and not in my face right now. I left him for five minutes. You know what, get out of my face."
According to her neighbour Patricia Griffin, "She left a child in the bathtub in scalding hot water — I can't imagine — it is hard to fathom that".
Gilbert, on Saturday, was taken into custody and charged with felony homicide with child abuse and neglect and three counts of felony child abuse and neglect, officers said, WNCN television reported.
She has been taken to the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Centre and will be held without bond.
