Norfolk woman gets 15 years for role in daughter’s death
Mother, boyfriend didn’t seek treatment after 2-year-old was scalded in 2018
NORFOLK — A woman who failed to get medical assistance for her 2-year-old daughter after the girl was severely burned by the mother’s boyfriend was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.
Circuit Judge David Lannetti issued the sentence to Norfolk’s Shelby Love for her role in the 2018 death of daughter Harley Williams.
Love’s former boyfriend, John Hardee, was sentenced last month to 35 years in prison for scalding Harley in a tub of hot water, then refusing to seek treatment for fear of being sent back to prison.
Hardee and Love attempted to treat the girl on their own and didn’t call for an ambulance until 11 hours later — after she started having seizures and turned blue. The girl was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.
Before the sentence was handed down, Love read a letter she’d addressed to Harley in which she apologized for not doing more to help.
“I should have died before letting anything happen to you,” Love, 29, read. “Your death has been more than I can endure.”
Defense attorney Emily Munn told Lannetti about Love’s troubled upbringing, which included being physically, emotionally and sexually abused for years by her stepfather. When Love was 12, a family friend raped her in the back of his car after taking her to a daddy/daughter dance, Munn said. The man was caught in the act by a police officer and later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Love got pregnant with her first child when she was 14 and dating a 25-yearold man, the defense lawyer said. That child was raised by Love’s mother.
While in jail, Love has worked hard to improve herself by taking as many educational courses as she can, Munn said, including virtual classes with Tidewater Community College. Deputies from the jail even wrote letters commending her behavior while behind bars, she said.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Cynthia Collard said that while Love deserves credit for her efforts to improve herself, and for her cooperation with police and prosecutors, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Harley could have survived if Love had gotten help for her.
Hardee left the couple’s apartment two times in the hours after the girl was burned to get medical supplies and yet Love never called for help or attempted to leave with her.
Love testified during Hardee’s trial that, at the time of the incident, she and Hardee had been living together for about two months and that she frequently left Harley with him while she was at work.
On the afternoon of April 23, Love said she got a text from Hardee that said, “I’m going to prison.” He didn’t respond when she texted back and tried to call him.
When Love arrived at their Ocean View apartment, she said Harley was shaking and had deep red burns over a large portion of her body. Her skin was blistered and starting to slough off.
Hardee told Love he was preparing to bathe Harley when he stepped away and the girl turned the water on. Love said she wanted to call 911, but Hardee wouldn’t let her. She also said he threatened to kill her, and had been abusive to her ever since she and Harley moved in.
The two tried to treat Harley with petroleum jelly, a pain-relieving cream that contained lidocaine, gauze bandages, children’s Tylenol and apple cider vinegar.
An autopsy determined Harley died from complications of scalding. A forensic toxicologist testified at trial the girl also had a toxic amount of lidocaine in her that could have contributed to her death.
A pediatric abuse specialist determined the burns, which covered more than 40% of Harley’s body, were the result of her lying in scalding hot water. The expert also said Harley likely would have survived if treated earlier.
Five years before Harley’s death, Hardee pleaded guilty in Virginia Beach to child abuse for severely beating his 14-month-old son. He was sentenced to three years in prison, 12 years of probation and ordered to have no unsupervised contact with children.