Woman admits strangling young child
A woman has admitted strangling a 6-year-old boy in her care, an act detectives alleged she also videotaped.
NORRISTOWN » A former Norristown woman has admitted to endangering a child in her care when she strangled him, an act detectives alleged she also videotaped.
Nersheen R. Sayers, 26, formerly of the 500 block of Cherry Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the March incident while the child was being cared by her at her former residence. Judge Thomas C. Branca deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Sayers.
Sayers, most recently of Mastic Beach, N.Y., faces a possible maximum sentence of 7½ to 15 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
Sayers remains free on bail pending her sentencing hearing, which the judge scheduled for Feb. 15.
An investigation began about 10:45 a.m. March 21, when the father of a 6-year-old boy went to the Norristown Police Department to report that Sayers recorded a video depicting her strangling the boy while the boy was in her care at the Cherry Street residence, according to a criminal complaint.
Norristown detectives viewed the video.
“The video shows (the child) laying on a bed, gasping for air while Sayers’ left hand is holding him down on the bed by his neck,” former Norristown Detective Kathleen Kelly, who is now a county detective, alleged in the arrest affidavit.
The video was about 10 seconds in length, detectives said.
When police confronted Sayers about the allegations she admitted to strangling the child and recording the incident sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. March 21. Sayers claimed she used her iPad to record the incident and then sent the video to the boy’s father.
“Sayers also said she deleted the video after watching it several times. Sayers said she knew immediately following the incident that she was wrong…,” Kelly wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Under state law, by pleading guilty to the strangulation charge, Sayers admitted that she intentionally impeded the breathing or circulation of the blood of another person by applying pressure to the throat or neck. By pleading guilty to child endangerment, Sayers admitted she knowingly violated a duty of care and protection while supervising the welfare of a child.