A Case of Justice

Maybe Faith should have been living in New Hampshire. This from the New Hampshire Union Leader: NASHUA – A babysitter has been arrested and charged with reckless conduct after an 18-month-old female child in her care apparently overdosed on prescription medication.Police said they arrested Esther Ngari, 20, of 136 West Pearl St. Apt. 3, at approximately 12:30 a.m. yesterday after the child ingested an unknown amount of the seizure medication Carbamazepine while in Ngari's apartment Thursday afternoon.Lt. Jeffrey Bukunt said that the child's father left the child and her six-month-old sister at Ngari's apartment on Thursday shortly before 2:30 p.m. The children's father did not personally know Ngari but was a friend of her roommate.Sometime that afternoon, Bukunt said, Ngari left the two children alone in her bedroom while they napped. Following the nap, Ngari noticed that the 18-month-old couldn't stay awake and called their father to pick them up. The children's father came over and picked them up at approximately 6:15 p.m. After the children left, Ngari went into her bedroom where she noticed that her bottle of medication which she normally kept on her nightstand was on the floor with several pills spilled out, Bukunt said. Some of the pills were wet and discolored, which is consistent with having been in someone's mouth. When the children arrived at home, the 18-month-old began vomiting and was unresponsive, Bukunt said. She was then taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and then med-flighted to Boston Children's Hospital where she was listed in serious condition. Ngari told police she normally kept her prescription bottle on her nightstand with the lid unsecured because she has trouble opening it when it is sealed, court documents state. Ngari was arraigned in Nashua District Court yesterday on one felony count of reckless conduct for leaving the bottle of medication within reach of the child with its lid unsecured and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child for not notifying the child's father that she may have ingested the medication, court documents state. Ngari was ordered held on $50,000 cash or surety bail and a condition of her bail states that she must also turn her passport over to the Nashua Police Department, court documents state. Ngari has lived in Nashua for only two weeks, Bukunt said. She previously lived in Virginia for five months, having moved there from her home country of Kenya to attend college. A case status and probable cause hearing is scheduled for June 20.