A night nurse from Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found abu:sing a 5-week-old preterm baby in a Westchester County residence in 2023. Gwendolyn Blake, 40, was seen on camera smacking and shaking a newborn. According to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Blake was caring for the youngster on August 30, 2023, when she struck him while he was crying.
According to the New York Post, the following day, she repeatedly sʟᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ the baby’s face, seized his head, and sʜᴏᴏᴋ him.
“This is a preemie who is colicky because of his low birth weight and instead of being treated with love and compassion, he was abused for being in pain,” the infant’s family claimed in a victim impact statement. “This has been a nightmare for our sons, our family, and our community. We will never be able to trust anyone with our children and are overly skeptical of anyone they interact with.”
Despite prosecutors’ efforts to get Blake 60 days in jail, Mamaroneck Judge Ronald Meister only sentenced her to 30 days after she pled guilty to two misdemeanor offenses, according to the district attorney’s office. She was also sentenced to three years of probation, which means she cannot care for the elderly, young children, or other vulnerable people.
Blake was awarded a permanent protection order by the victim’s family, which prohibits her from being around them. “Gwen Blake knew what she was doing behind closed doors, lied to our faces, and went about her business every single day seemingly without a care in the world,” a family member claimed. “She is violent and poses a significant risk to innocent families.”
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
