A Queens mom is headed to the joint after pleading guilty to manslaughter and assault charges in the shaking death of her 7-month-old daughter.
Nyemah Nickens, 21, of 22-88 Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, was sentenced to 10 years in prison today after pleading guilty last month to first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter in the shaking death of her daughter, Nyla Nickens.
“For those who do not believe that shaking a baby can cause serious and irreparable injury or even death, this case – and the defendant’s confession – is a grim reminder that caretakers and parents can and do shake children to death,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says. “Never, under any circumstances, should a baby be shaken. For this defendant, in addition to the lengthy prison sentence she must serve, she must forever live with the knowledge that she – and she alone – is responsible for her own child’s death.”
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Nickens admitted to police that on September 4, 2010, she repeatedly shook her crying daughter in an attempt to get her to quiet down.
About 5 a.m. the next day, Nickens heard her daughter crying
again. When she checked on the girl, the 7-month-old was in a
“abnormal/unresponsive” condition.
Nickens took the girl to the hospital, where doctors discovered that
the baby had suffered serious injuries to her brain. Surgeons attempted a
procedure to relieve some of the pressure on girl’s skull. She died
four days later.