Insets, L-R: Rabyah Muballigh, Corey Michael Moody (Greene County Prosecuting Attorney). Background: The location where Muballigh and Moody’s 3-year-old daughter was found in deplorable conditions (Fairborn Police Department).
An Ohio mother whose nearly-starved 16-pound 3-year-old girl was rescued by police from a feces-covered, bug-infested apartment will spend years in prison.
Rabyah Muballigh, 26, was sentenced to 7 to 10 1/2 years on Thursday in the case of extreme child abuse involving her daughter, the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced in a news release. Muballigh pleaded no contest to charges of felonious assault and endangering children, online court records show.
Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David D. Hayes stated that it was the worst case of child abuse he’s seen in his 20-year career.
“Muballigh is going to prison for several years, as she should,” he said in the news release. “Her primary responsibility was to care for that child and she failed to do that and caused that child serious physical harm.”
In court, Muballigh, who prosecutors said had only taken her child once to see a pediatrician, said she’s spent every night for the past six months praying for her daughter, Dayton CBS affiliate WHIO reported.
“I should have gotten help sooner so she wouldn’t have been hurt the way she was,” she said, the station reported. “I just kind of gave up. I stopped getting out of bed, I stopped showering, I stopped eating. The only time I was getting up was feeding her, but it wasn’t enough. I should have done more.”
Her defense attorney, Lucas Wilder, told the Dayton Daily News in June that she had a rough upbringing, suffered from depression, had given another daughter up for adoption and had delivered a stillborn baby before her toddler was found.
“While not an excuse for her inaction, Rabyah was suffering from extreme mental health issues at the time she failed her duties,” Wilder told the newspaper.
The news came as prosecutors announced that biological father, Corey Michael Moody, 29, was charged on July 17 with one count each of endangering children, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence. He is in jail with bail set at $100,000. His trial is set for Oct. 7.
The case came to light on Jan. 8. Muballigh called 911 using a fake name and told police a 2- or 3-year-old girl was having difficulty breathing, prosecutors said.
Law&Crime reported on the dramatic rescue of the girl, captured in Fairborn Police Department body camera footage showing the moment officers saved her at about 1 p.m. that afternoon at Muballigh’s ground-floor apartment in the 300 block of Wallace Drive, about 60 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
Footage shows the residence littered with garbage and discarded food. Several unfurled sticky-paper fly traps are seen, nearly completely covered with dead flies. Trash appears piled up almost six feet in some rooms.
“Oh my God,” one of the officers can be heard saying before even finding the girl.
When officers opened the door to her room, they found the child — who is obscured in the footage — emaciated and huddled in a corner, covered with bug bites. She was wearing only a solid diaper, prosecutors said.
She was lying on the ground next to a mattress covered in feces and urine. Bugs that appear to be roaches can be seen on the floors and walls.
The officers initially seem to believe the child is dead but express relief she is alive when she gasps for air.
The officers rip blankets from the wall covering the windows to allow more light as they check on the victim.
The girl was taken to a hospital, where she spent several weeks before she was released. She is with her sister’s adoptive family, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Muballigh was also at the home then, and police quickly learned she called 911 and gave the dispatcher a fake name. She was arrested, seen in the police footage appearing to start to cry before the officer pulls away from the home.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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