Toddler tragically died after being restrained ‘face down in a cushion’
Nursery practitioner Kimberley Cookson, 23, has admitted gross negligence manslaughter over the death of 14-month-old Noah Sibanda
Noah Sibanda died aged 14 months at Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley on December 9 2022(Image: PA)
A nursery, its director and a staff member are set to be sentenced over the death of a 14-month-old toddler who suffocated while staff attempted to make him sleep.
Noah Sibanda tragically lost his life following an incident at Fairytales Day Nursery in Bourne Street, Dudley, West Midlands, after being physically restrained face down on a cushion with a blanket over his face and a leg placed over him, as previously stated by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Nursery worker Kimberley Cookson, 23, confessed to gross negligence manslaughter in relation to her actions in trying to make the toddler sleep on December 9 2022.
Last month, Fairytales Day Nursery Limited admitted one count of corporate manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work Act offence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Director and business owner Deborah Latewood, 55, also confessed to a Health and Safety at Work Act offence on the grounds that she was unaware – but should have been aware – children were being put down to sleep in a hazardous manner.
The CPS revealed the incident, which was recorded on CCTV at the nursery, saw Noah tightly swaddled in a sleeping bag with a blanket over his head and laid face down to sleep by Cookson.
She is alleged to have held the toddler face down on a cushion and restrained him with her leg for some of that time, in what the CPS described as an attempt to “make him sleep when he did not want to”.
Noah was subsequently discovered to be not breathing and emergency services were called, but he was sadly pronounced dead in hospital.
Cookson, Latewood and the nursery, which has since shut down, will face sentencing by Mr Justice Choudhury at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday.
