Nanny arrested for burning 3-yr-old on stove has been charged

fuad lawal

April 23, 2015 9:01 PM

A nanny has appeared in court charged with deliberately burning a three-year-old girl on a stove and picking her up by the throat.

Lidia Quilligana

Lidia Quilligana, 31, originally from Equador, was caught on a hidden camera allegedly force-feeding the child, physically abusing her, and pressing her hands and leg to a stove burner.

According to the court documents, the nanny claimed the girl had been injured by falling on to the burner when she pulled up a chair, when the victim's mother asked. She the other injuries came when she fell and hit her head on a stove knob.

After taking the youngster to a doctor, where she was treated for second degree burns, the mother returned home and viewed footage on a 'nanny cam'.

According a report in the Danbury News Times, the device had been installed the previous December when the mother became suspicious about bruises on her daughter.

Footage seen by a police officer apparently showed Quilligana trying to shove food into the girl's mouth and smacking her across the face.

At one point, according to the officer's notes, the nanny picked up the child by the throat with two hands and threw her to the ground and then put the girl's hands on to hot stove burners.

Quilligana was the full-time baby sitter for the girl and her two younger siblings.

She was arrested at her home on 27 March and has now appeared in the Superior Court in Danbury, Connecticut.

She was charged with assault, risk of injury to a child, and criminal mischief.

Quilligana's defence attorney, Jennifer Tunnard, attempted to ban the media covering the proceedings, an application which Judge Kevin Russo denied, stating that media coverage was"appropriate to preserve the public's interest"

Quilligana pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ordered to return to court on 27 May.

fuad lawal