Eight-week-old boy died after mother left him at home during work shift

Ruth Auta, a nurse, pleads guilty to neglect after leaving her son alone for eight hours where he suffered from an asystolic cardiac arrest

An eight-week old baby died after a nurse left him at home during a shift, a court heard.
Ruth Auta, 28, left her son Joshua Akerele by himself for eight hours and he suffered from an asystolic cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart stops beating.
She arrived home from her shift on Dec 20, 2022 at about 3.15pm and emergency services were called after she found Joshua unresponsive.
Despite attempts to resuscitate him , Joshua could not be saved and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital, Bolton Crown Court heard.
No conclusive cause of death was given and a post-mortem examination said there were “so many unknown variables” it was not possible to ascertain what had caused it.
Auta had undertaken three years of nursing training in her native Nigeria before emigrating to Britain to train with the NHS.
She then gave birth to Joshua on Oct 22 2022 after going into labour in the middle of a shift at Royal Bolton Hospital in Greater Manchester.
Prosecuting, Vanessa Thomson said: “When she came to the UK to complete her training, she did not disclose that she was pregnant.
“She would not have been permitted to work on hospital wards had she done so.”
CCTV footage showed Auta leaving her flat in Bolton, Greater Manchester, at 6.37am before returning to the property at about 3.15pm, both on her own.
An ambulance was called just minutes after and Auta met paramedics at the entrance to the building, holding Joshua.
Ms Thomson said: “CCTV footage checks showed that nobody had entered her flat throughout the day.
“The previous days mainly showed her entering and leaving with a pram.”
Auta told police that she had “returned home from work, fed him and laid him on her bed” before he went to sleep.
She also claimed she had wrapped Joshua in multiple layers of clothing which caused him to sweat.
Analysis at the scene found an area of her bed saturated with sweat.
Ms Thomson said: “The defendant claimed she had collected Joshua from a carer when she left work and taken him back home.”
Text messages on Auta’s phone showed contact with a child carer whom she had employed to look after Joshua.
The messages, which were sent after his death, said: “I lost Joshua, I don’t want you to panic, police are coming to you for questions.
“I told them he stayed with you this morning.”
A further message said: “I am not a bad person, but I am concerned of the UK Government. Just help me out. I was too scared to ring an ambulance.”
The contact responded that she could not help her and when interviewed by police, she told them she had not taken care of Joshua that day.
The court heard that Auta was arrested at Gatwick Airport on June 6 this year, while trying to board a flight to Nigeria. She had purchased a one-way ticket. 
Defending, Ellie Akhgar said: “Ms Auta was sectioned for a period of 14 days in hospital, which allowed her to stay for an additional week.”
A psychiatric report conducted following Joshua’s death found that a period of low mood suffered by Auta suggested she had been suffering from postpartum depression.
The psychiatrist said she described the period after his birth as being “awful”, saying she “could not be happy”, was “extremely sad” and that she felt “lonely and isolated.”
Ms Akhgar added that Auta earned about £1,600 a month, with her rent costing £750 and hiring a childminder costing £50 a day.
She said: “She is aware of her wrongdoing and aware that it crosses the custodial threshold. She will carry the weight of tremendous tragedy for the rest of her life.”
Concluding, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said: “The defendant left Joshua, who was just over eight weeks old, for a period of over eight hours.
“He was a newborn baby with no means of support. This eight-week-old baby was entirely reliant on you for his needs, he could not possibly have fended for himself in the over eight hours in which you neglected him.
“No one was checking on his welfare.
“In my judgment, it is all the more serious because of your professional qualifications. You deceived the recruitment agency and the hospital and tried to cover up what you had done, and you tried to deceive the police.”
Auta had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to neglect but was sentenced to three years imprisonment.