Two Massachusetts women, the aunt, and mother, Guilene Gerome, of a child who was badly burned last month, pleaded not guilty on Monday in connection with the case.
The 4-year-old girl suffered extensive second- and third-degree burns in an incident on Oct. 8, but officials were not notified until the next day, according to Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn. The child's condition has since stabilized, but she remains hospitalized more than a month later.
Franzceska Gerome, 44, the victim's aunt, was arrested over the weekend by Seekonk police on charges of reckless endangerment of a child, assault and battery on a child with substantial injury, and permitting substantial injury to a child.
She is accused of claiming that the child fell into a fire pit for a few seconds, but the prosecution said the injuries required surgical care and are not consistent with that story.
"It's more consistent not just medically but almost kind of where the burns were located, with being scalded with a liquid," prosecutor Matthew Lopes said in court on Monday. "The child did inform a (Department of Children and Families) officer at some point when she was being treated at the hospital that the defendant had poured water on her."
"These allegations are difficult to even talk about, judge, but she denies the allegations. She sticks to what she told the investigators," the defense said.
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