(DailyAnswer.org) – A court sentenced a 41-year-old mother in Ohio to 13 years and six months in prison on May 24 for the involuntary manslaughter of her daughter, whom she fed Mountain Dew from a baby bottle until the child’s teeth rotted.
Tamara Banks was charged with endangering children, involuntary manslaughter and murder, but when she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter the latter two charges were dropped. Christopher Hoeb, the girl’s father, likewise pleaded guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge. The 53-year-old will be sentenced on June 11. Clay Tharp, the Clermont County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, said to reporters that it was one of the most tragic cases he had come across.
Karmity Hoeb, 4, died in hospital of diabetes-related complications having been fed a diet of bottles filled with the soft drink. At the time of her death, the child’s teeth had rotted away. The sugar-heavy diet left the child with Type 1 diabetes that led to diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition. An investigation found no evidence of the child having seen a dentist. According to Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve, Karmity’s diabetes went undiagnosed for years before the 4-year-old was found unresponsive in January 2022.
Tekulve stated that the child suffered for most of her short life due to the neglect and abuse she suffered. Jerry Banks, the woman’s oldest son, told reporters he and his little sister never met because the parents kept her away from him. Jerry recalled his younger brother also entering diabetic ketoacidosis years earlier that resulted in him forcing his mother, who had “passed out” in the other room, to take the boy to hospital. Doctors managed to catch it in time to save the boy.
Tharp said that the girl did not have to die. When doctors realized she could not be saved, Karmity was pronounced braindead and taken off life support at the hospital. The president of Ohio’s American Academy of Pediatrics chapter Chris Peltier commented that children will rapidly fall ill with diabetes, and that they will enter a coma or die if they do not receive treatment for the condition. Peltier added that the body will eventually “just shut down”.
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