A woman who prosecutors say admitted holding her daughter by her legs and slamming her face-first on a kitchen floor has been charged with aggravated battery.
The 2-month-old girl has more than 10 fractures to her face, as well as fractures to her shoulder and leg and bleeding in her brain, depriving her of oxygen, prosecutors said during a hearing Friday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
She is not expected to survive, and prosecutors said they are prepared to file murder charges.
Nina Singleton, 31, was ordered held without bail. Singleton was undergoing a mental health evaluation at a hospital and did not attend the hearing.
Prosecutors said the girl’s father broke up with Singleton in October, but regularly saw his daughter, including accompanying her and Singleton to the hospital on Nov. 18 for the girl’s vaccinations.
After the hospital trip, the three went out for dinner; afterward, he dropped them off at the apartment, in the 1000 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue, according to prosecutors and police.
After that day, however, Singleton stopped letting him see the child; she would say the child was sleeping, or at one point that the girl was with Singleton’s friend at a birthday party.
On Tuesday, the girl’s father came to Singleton’s apartment and demanded to see the girl. He found the girl in her bassinet; she wasn’t moving, prosecutors said. Singleton didn’t want to take the girl to a hospital, but the father called an ambulance.
The child was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in critical condition, then transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where doctors documented the extent of the child’s injuries, determining that she had suffered severe trauma, primarily to her head, prosecutors said.
When interviewed by investigators, prosecutors said, Singleton admitted holding the girl by both legs and slamming her face-first onto a kitchen floor. She also allegedly admitted hitting the girl many times since she was born, telling investigators every time she looked at the girl, she imagined seeing her ex, prosecutors said.
Singleton said she had slammed the girl on the floor six days earlier, according to prosecutors, but doctors said the injuries, and when they likely occurred, were inconsistent with some of her mother’s admissions. Doctors believe the head trauma was suffered more recently than her mother said; they also suspect the girl has been abused her entire life. prosecutors said.
Judge Mary Marubio ordered Singleton held without bail when she is released from the hospital. Singleton’s next court hearing is scheduled for Monday.