Mother who partied for six days as baby starved to death is jailed for nine years
A MOTHER who left her baby to starve to death in her flat while she went partying for six days to celebrate her 18th birthday has been jailed for nine years.
Verphy Kudi, now 19, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after she was caught on CCTV leaving Asiah alone.
Left without food or water, the 20-month-old child died in her mother’s flat in Brighton. In the time she was away, Kudi travelled to London, Coventry and Solihull – more than 150 miles away.
On the day her daughter died, Kudi was on social media trying to sell concert tickets and attempting to launch a modelling career.
Questions are now being asked of the authorities after it was revealed Kudi had left the baby alone at least six times in the three months before her death in December 2019, once for two days.
Judge Christine Laing QC said yesterday Asiah had gone through ‘almost unimaginable suffering’ before dying alone. She branded Kudi ‘deceitful and manipulative’, adding: ‘It is a particularly distressing aspect of this case that it is unlikely Asiah would have cried for any time because she had learned on many occasions there would have ben no response.’
Lewes Crown Court heard that Kudi had been a happy girl growing up, but from the age of 14 she began playing truant from school and going missing from home.
She became pregnant amid concerns that she had become involved in child sexual exploitation and was moved in with foster carers.
Asiah was born on March 22, 2018, and immediately placed on a child protection plan, though there was no social worker assigned to her when she died.
They went to live with Kudi’s mother, but in September 2019 the pair were moved into accommodation for vulnerable families run by charity YMCA DownsLink on behalf of Brighton City Council. The court heard Kudi then began to leave Asiah alone to meet friends and go out to parties.
On her birthday, December 5, Kudi went to London, telling friends her mother had the baby. She was filmed on a smartphone at a concert in Elephant and Castle.
After visiting Coventry, Kudi took a train back to Brighton on December 11. She arrived home at 3.38pm and was seen emptying bags into the communal bins before going back to her flat. She eventually dialled 999 at 6.06pm to say Asiah was ‘not waking up’.
Paramedics saw signs of rigor mortis in Asiah, who was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead. She was found to have died from starvation and flu.
When she was arrested, Kudi claimed she had been looking after Asiah for a few days because they had both been very unwell, telling police: ‘My heart hurts so much I don’t know how to breathe. I’m trying so hard to be strong.’
However, she was charged with murder and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership is carrying out a child safeguarding practice review, which they aim to publish this year.
YMCA DownsLink said: ‘Verphy Kudi misled staff into believing Asiah was with her whilst she was away. Tragically, neither our staff nor other residents heard anything to alert them to the fact that Asiah had been left in the flat alone.
‘We are working with the other agencies involved in the review to fully understand the circumstances that led to this tragic incident.’
‘I’m trying so hard to be strong’