Camilini-Otero
A Shelton woman charged with child abuse caused a total of 18 fractures in her infant daughter last year, according to an arrest warrant.
On Thursday the woman, 24-year-old Migdalia Camilini-Otero, was arraigned on charges of first-degree assault, risk of injury to a minor, and first-degree reckless endangerment.
The child has been in foster care since last May.
The criminal charges against Camilini-Otero continued to April 27, when she will appear at Superior Court in Milford.
Outside the courtroom Camilini-Otero and her lawyer declined to comment.
No other arrests are expected, police said.
According to a 31-page arrest warrant written by Detective Richard Esposito, Camilini-Otero, her husband, and her mother brought the child to the Yale-New Haven Hospital for “a raspy cough” May 18, 2017.
The family was living on North Main Street at the time.
Doctors and staff suspected abuse after the baby displayed “multiple acute fractures” of at least eight ribs.
Other injuries included “pulmonary contusions, conjunctive hemorrhage to the eyes, possibly caused from shaking, possible head injury, broken toes, and a torn frenulum.”
At first Camilini-Otero said she didn’t know what caused the injuries.
In later interviews, she said she didn’t abuse the child, but might have been “too rough” when getting her ready or doing leg exercises for constipation problems.
The couple said they had heard “popping” noises in the child they thought were gas.
They also said they suspected the baby had brittle bones, but a test for osteogenesis imperfecta came back negative.
Doctors said many of the baby’s fractures were 5 – 7 weeks old.
In an affidavit Dr. John Leventhal, a Yale pediatrician, said the baby’s injuries “are inflicted and, therefore, are consistent with severe physical abuse.”
If returned home, he said the child “would be at imminent risk of suffering additional injuries or dying.”
In interviews, Camilini-Otero maintained she never harmed her child intentionally.
But she also said she could be too rough on the child occasionally.
“I don’t want people thinking I hurt her, she’s my miracle,” the warrant quotes her.
The child “never made any indication anything was hurting her,” she said.
“I’m a first time mom, I never had to take care of a baby before,” she said. “I thought I was being gentle with her, maybe I wasn’t, and if I did this to her, I didn’t mean to.”
She currently has supervised visits twice a week, her lawyer said, per orders from a juvenile court judge.
In court Thursday, a prosecutor asked a judge to impose a protective order barring the Camilini-Otero from having any contact with the child.
The prosecutor, Marjorie Sozanski, noted Camilini-Otero wasn’t facing felony child abuse charges when another judge approved supervised visits.
“When these orders were put in place there was no probable cause for those charges,” she said. “There are now.”
Judge Karen Sequino said the state Department of Children and Families could OK supervised visits.
The judge warned Camilini-Otero not to have any other contact with the child.
No Camera
Prior to Camilini-Otero’s arraignment, her lawyer successfully prevented a TV camera crew from recording the hearing.
Criminal court hearings are routinely recorded by television crews and photographers upon written requests from news agencies.
In court Thursday Camilini-Otero’s lawyer, Donna Candella, objected to a news crew from WFSB recording the arraignment.
She said media coverage of the case had already caused Camilini-Otero “difficulties,” without being more specific.
She also said her arguments would “include matters that are related to juvenile court,” the proceedings of which are secret.
Prosecutor Marjorie Sozanski and the reporter, Matt McFarland, noted Thursday’s arraignment was not in juvenile court, which is private.
And the alleged victim was not named during the hearing.
Nevertheless, the judge ordered the news crew couldn’t record.
She noted that most the facts of the case will be available in public documents — and would be reported by the media, as the details of the arraignment were.
The judge still sustained Candella’s objection to the TV camera, citing privacy concerns.
“The additional imposition on the privacy concerns of the minor child victim in this matter outweigh the public’s interest in actually having a picture of the courtroom,” the judge said.
WFSB’s report is embedded below.
