WARNING: This story discusses child abuse and may be distressing.
A suburban Atlanta woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2021 murder of a 4-month-old who died after she placed him to sleep on his abdomen in the child care centre she operated out of her basement.
A judge sentenced Amanda Hickey, 48, on Friday after families of children she was accused of abusing gave emotional testimony against her.
“I know that there is nothing I can say in words to take away their pain, except take responsibility and express extreme sorrow for what I’ve done,” Hickey told DeKalb County Superior Court Chief Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This is my legacy now.”
Charlie Cronmiller was being cared for in Hickey’s Little Lovey child care centre when he died on February 3, 2021. Hickey didn’t check on him for more than two hours before finding him covered in vomit and not breathing. The infant was pronounced dead at a hospital.