A 33-year-old family-hired caregiver has been charged with assault after a one-year-old girl was taken to hospital with suspected shaken baby syndrome.
Richmond RCMP released the accused with a promise to appear in court Jan. 28.
The baby girl remains in hospital, but she has been upgraded to stable condition.
“One of these cases is just one too many,” said Cpl. Jennifer Pound, a spokesperson for Richmond RCMP. “When you have a situation like this, all you can do is proceed as quickly as possible and get the charges off to the courts, which is what we’ve done here.”
The girl was dropped off at the Strong Start learning centre at Mitchell Elementary School on Dec. 16 by the accused.
The baby appeared fine when she went down for a nap, but when staff and caregivers at the centre were unable to wake her a short time later, she was rushed to hospital.
Doctors at the hospital determined her symptoms were consistent with shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis that has been confirmed.
