HEARTBREAKING: US-BASED NIGERIAN MUM ARRESTED AFTER DAUGTHER’S HOT-CAR DEATH
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A 36-year-old Nigerian woman, Gbemisola Akayinode, has been apprehended and charged with felony murder following the death of her 9-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi, who succumbed to hyperthermia after being left in a vehicle for several hours in extreme heat in Texas.
Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, verified the arrest in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 17, indicating that the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences classified the child’s death as a homicide.
He stated, “Arrest update: today, HCSOTexas Homicide Detectives and our Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) apprehended Gbemisola G. Akayinode for the murder of her nine-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi Akayinode. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences determined the death a homicide, attributable to hyperthermia.
“Gbemisola (11-17-88) is being charged with felony murder and is being processed in the Harris County Jail. ”
According to earlier accounts by Sheriff Gonzalez, detectives responded to a call on July 1 at an industrial site on Mayo Shell Road in Galena Park, near Houston, where a 9-year-old girl was left unsupervised in a vehicle.
“The child was transported to LBJ Hospital and pronounced deceased,” noted the report.
ABC News, in a report on Monday, mentioned that court documents revealed Oluwasikemi died on July 1 after being left in the vehicle for over eight hours on a day when temperatures reached 99 degrees, while her mother attended work at a nearby manufacturing facility.
The report elaborated that Gbemisola reportedly arrived at work around 5:45 a.m., leaving her daughter in the car with food, a rechargeable fan, ice cubes, and water, while lowering the car’s rear windows halfway and administering melatonin to assist her child in sleeping.
Upon her return to the car around 1:53 p.m., after completing her shift, the mother discovered her daughter unresponsive and exhibiting a blue complexion, prompting her to shout for assistance.
The documents reportedly further disclosed that Gbemisola stated she had previously brought Oluwasikemi to work with her several times, including the day prior.
She claimed she accompanied her daughter because she lacked funds for childcare until her next paycheck; however, investigators concluded that the foreman at her workplace was covering the cost of childcare for her, according to court documents.
Local news source KHOU11 also reported that the court documents indicated Akayinode attributed the child’s demise to prescription medication prescribed for ADHD, while also acknowledging she administered melatonin to her daughter that morning and the previous night.
The Daily Mail added that Sheriff Ed disclosed Akayinode had also left a shade up in the front window of the vehicle, obscuring visibility for passersby.
CPR was reportedly initiated on Oluwasikemi, who was subsequently taken to the nearby Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where she was declared dead, and the medical examiner’s office categorized her death as a homicide due to hyperthermia.
The report further noted that Oluwasikemi’s death was among four child fatalities involving hot vehicles in Texas during the initial two weeks of July.
As per the report, a mother in Texas purportedly stated in September that during her slumber, her two offspring perished in a heated vehicle after they exited their residence and entered the automobile.
In August, another Texas mother was reported to have “deliberately” left her 15-month-old infant in a sweltering car while she attended to her job, resulting in the child’s death.
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