NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A New York nanny was sentenced to prison on Monday after aggressively shaking and bouncing a 3-month-old baby, causing a seizure, while working as his nanny, prosecutors said.
Nija Woodbury, 23, from White Plains, who pleaded guilty last year, was sentenced to six months in prison for reckless assault of a child, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced. Woodbury was also sentenced to five years of probation.
The incident happened on Jan. 10, 2023, when Woodbury was working as the nanny of a family in Mount Pleasant. She aggressively shook and bounced the 3-month-old victim without supporting his head, according to the incident.
The baby boy’s mother noticed that the boy was in a strange position when she looked at the baby monitor. She called 911 when she realized that he was having a seizure, turning blue and was unresponsive, according to prosecutors.
Woodbury was there during this time and did not say anything about what she had done to the baby.
The baby was taken to Westchester Medical Center.
A scan found that he had bilateral subdural hematomas and bilateral retinal hemorrhages—indicators of a shaken baby, according to court documents.
The baby boy was treated for abusive head trauma for a week.
“The defendant endangered the life of a defenseless baby and also traumatized a family who had entrusted her with the care of their child,” Rocah said. “This sentence ensures some measure of accountability for her reckless actions.”
Following a forensic analysis of Woodbury’s phone, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office was able to find deleted text messages on the same day of the incident which indicated Woodbury’s frustration about how the baby would not stop crying.
Woodbury was confronted about the text messages and she admitted to Mount Pleasant police that she had bounced and shaken the baby while she knew it was unsafe.
She was arrested on on Jan. 13, 2023.
“Before this event, I never thought that someone was capable of doing this...I used to always believe that people are innately good and that I can trust my intuition–I now no longer feel that way,” the victim’s mother said in a statement at court. “I have dealt with the overwhelming guilt about allowing Nija in my home and being responsible for introducing her to what I hold most dear, my precious baby. It will never feel like there is justice for what she has done and put our family through.”