North Laurel Man Convicted of Child Abuse Charges

October 26, 2009

Concluding a four-day trial this afternoon, a Howard County jury convicted a North Laurel man of child abuse and additional charges in the 2008 scalding of his niece. After less than two hours of deliberations, the jury declared 38-year-old Michael Adegoke Oye-Adeniran, of the 9200 block of Traders Crossing, guilty of first-degree child abuse, second-degree custodial child abuse, assault, and two counts of leaving a child unattended.

The trial centered on a bath that Oye-Adeniran gave his niece on the evening of October 23, 2008. Prosecutors, police and child advocacy investigators contended that the two-year-old niece was deliberately immersed in a tub of waist-high bath water that reached a temperature approaching 164 degrees. Oye-Adeniran’s attorneys contended that the girl’s extensive second and third-degree burns were sustained accidentally and it was never the uncle’s intent to harm her.

But during the course of the trial, three physicians, including the emergency room doctor who first treated her at Laurel Regional Hospital, testified that, in their expert opinions, the girl’s injuries were not accidental. The toddler was subsequently transferred to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and continues burn treatment at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Boston.

Police investigators reported that Oye-Adeniran did not seek medical assistance for his injured niece for more than five hours and that he offered differing explanations for the delay and how his niece was injured. The convictions on two counts of leaving her unattended arose from trips to the Rite Aid pharmacy and Weis supermarket for over-the-counter medications and bandages. “If anybody else saw that girl they would say, ‘You need to get this girl help,’ ” stated Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa Broten to the jury. Broten contended that the real reason for the delay in seeking medical attention “was so he could get his story straight.”

Following the jury verdict, Howard County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McCrone revoked Oye-Adeniran’s bond and set a sentencing date of December 21, 2009.