Montco mom to be sentenced Friday for daughter's injuries

Montco mom to be sentenced Friday for daughter's injuries

Posted: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 8:20 am, Wed Feb 1, 2012.

By Margaret Gibbons Staff writer | 0 comments

An Upper Dublin woman will learn Friday whether she will go to prison for injuries, including first- and second-degree burns, suffered by her adoptive daughter.

Theresa M. McNulty, 53, of the 600 block of Loch Alsh Avenue, in October pleaded guilty to charges of endangering the welfare of children and simple assault for her role in the injuries the child received in 2009 when the girl was 3 years old.

While McNulty could be sentenced up to a maximum of five to 10 years in prison, state sentencing guidelines recommend a combined sentence from probation to 18 months behind bars.

County Assistant District Attorney Samantha L. R. Cauffman has said she will be seeking jail time for McNulty while defense attorney Robert L. Adshead wants to keep his client out of prison.

The child’s injuries first came to the attention of authorities in February of 2009, when police were contacted by Chestnut Hill Hospital to report that a child, suffering severe burns to her face and body, had just been brought into the emergency room by her mother.

McNulty told hospital staff members that the burns occurred two days earlier when she was bathing her daughter. McNulty said her daughter scooted to the front of the tub to rinse out her hair under hot, scalding water, according to the criminal complaint.

While treating the child for her burns, emergency room personnel also observed numerous other bruises on the girl’s body, the complaint said. These injuries ranged from a bruise above and below one eye, across her nose, under the other eye and on the forehead. There also was a bruise to both sides on the top of one ear.

McNulty informed the medical personnel that her daughter had fallen down the stairs at their home a few days earlier, according to the complaint. Hospital staff subsequently contacted police.

During their investigation, police learned day care employees, family members, physicians and children and youth workers all had observed and/or reported welts, cuts and bruising to the child’s head, ears and face. These observations occurred from April 2008 through February 2009.

During McNulty’s sentencing hearing, which began Tuesday, it was clear that Cauffman and Adshead have different takes on how those injuries occurred.

Cauffman contends that the injuries were deliberate and were the result of child abuse. Adshead claims the injuries were accidental but that his client takes responsibility for them because she should have been a better mom.

Dr. Cindy Christian, a pediatrician at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and director of Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection, testified for the prosecution. Describing the child’s injuries as significant, Christian said the “totality of the injuries represents repeated maltreatment.”

For example, Christian said, the bruises to both sides of the upper part of the child’s ear are unusual injuries for a child to suffer, particularly in a fall.

Dr. Steven Samuel, a psychologist testifying for the defense, said McNulty, a single parent who adopted her daughter from Russia in 2007, had “some vulnerabilities” when it came to raising children but most of those vulnerabilities involved a lack of experience when it came to raising a young child.

While McNulty may have some “anger issues,” they were not directed at the child. Her anger was either directed at herself or other members of her family, according to Samuel.

After having some 14 sessions with McNulty and the child together and individually, Samuel said he believes that the injuries to the child were accidental.

“She told me ‘I should have been more responsible’ in preventing the accidents in which the child was injured,” Samuel testified.

After some 2½ hours of testimony, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill recessed the proceeding to give himself time to read through a two-inch thick volume of medical reports on the child that were just placed into evidence.

The sentencing will continue Friday, with both sides making final arguments and the judge issuing his sentence.

The child remains in the custody of the county Office of Children and Youth and has been living in a foster home “where she is thriving,” said Cauffman.

Margaret Gibbons: 610-279-6153; mgibbons@phillyburbs.com; Twitter, @peggibbons