An Independence Township woman was bound over for trial last week after witnesses testified about injuries’including cuts, bruises, fractured ribs and missing teeth’sustained by her 2-year-old adopted daughter.
Malini Rao, 42, faced a three-day-long preliminary exam before Judge Kelley Kostin in 52-2 District Court, and is charged with second and third-degree child abuse.
Authorities were first alerted to the alleged abuse after officials in Clarkston Community Schools reported suspicions’as required by law’when the girl came to her preschool program with cuts and bruises on a regular basis.
Rao told teachers her younger daughter was accident-prone, and often ran into walls or fell down stairs in the family’s home, but in October, County Child Protective Services (CPS) stepped in to investigate.
Last month, a CPS worker testified she asked Rao to immediately take the child to the hospital for an evaluation after the Oct. 11 interview in the family home.
Michelle Sparks told the court she asked Rao to explain and demonstrate how she disciplines the child, and was told when the girl misbehaves, Rao ‘beats her about the face.?
Sparks said Rao then stood up and hit the chair she’d been sitting in.
‘The way she was demonstrating appeared to be excessive,? said Sparks. ‘Especially when we consider she was talking about a two-year-old child.?
Rao and her husband Viswanath Seetharaman also have a 5-year-old biological daughter, who authorities do not believe was abused. The younger child was adopted from India in August 2006. Both girls are currently in foster care together.
Sparks also noted that while she waited for Rao to change the child’s clothes for a trip to the hospital, the phone rang and the child walked down the stairs while Rao engaged in a conversation upstairs.
‘I found it significant enough that I made notes,? Sparks said. ‘All the comments that had been made (about the child’s clumsiness) I thought it was significant she was walking down the stairs in quite a developed manner for her age.?
Kathryn Gauthier, a teacher in the Funshine program in the Early Childhood Center, testified the child was a student in her Toddler Playtime group, where 2-3 year old children attend twice weekly with a parent or other caregiver.
The teacher described the girl as a cooperative child who enjoyed music and toy cars, but was mostly quiet and ‘didn’t run around a lot.?
‘She had a lot of bruises’she was very thin,? Gauthier said, noting she asked Rao about the bruises several times and was told the child was clumsy and often ran into walls or fell down stairs.
Gauthier said she couldn’t recall seeing the child without bruises, but also noted she never saw the child run into objects or fall in the classroom, with the exception of one time when the child fell on her bottom.
Dr. Robert Cohen, the emergency room physician at St. Joseph Hospital in Pontiac who assessed the child when she, Rao and Sparks showed up at the hospital Oct. 11, testified by phone he diagnosed the child with ‘suspected non-accidental trauma or suspected child abuse,? terms, he said, medically mean essentially the same thing.
Cohen, who described the child as ‘very withdrawn? during the exam, said he noted multiple bruising, contusions, abrasions and lacerations on the child’s face, as well as multiple scars on her abdomen.
Cohen also testified the child had two missing front teeth, and while a CAT scan revealed no injuries or abnormalities to the brain, X-rays did show multiple fractures at various stages of healing on both sides of her ribcage.
‘The ribs are quite hard to break,? he said. ‘They’re actually quite pliable. In children, bones usually bend before they break.?
Dr. Marcus DeGraw testified he examined the child at a later date in his private office at St. John’s Hospital in Detroit, where he serves as Medical Director of the Child Protection Team.
According to the hospital’s website, DeGraw is an established child abuse expert in four states and federal courts, a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Helfer Society, known also as the National Child Abuse Society.
Like Cohen, DeGraw noted child’s upper teeth were missing, and told the court most children begin to lose teeth around the age of 6 or 7.
‘An almost-3-year-old would have several years before she started to lose baby teeth,? he said.
Although Rao’s older daughter testified in a closed court session, it was later indicated the girl recalled an account of her mother attempting to get the resistant younger child to bed at naptime; the younger child’s face allegedly came into contact with part of the crib, resulting in the loss of her top teeth.
DeGraw said according to the records he’d received, the child wasn’t talking a great deal at the time she was removed from her home, mostly using single word sentences or ‘grunting? and ‘gesturing? to communicate.
Since that time, however, the child has improved language skills, made good eye contact and had good comprehension and social awareness, he said.
Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Sara Pope-Starnes said the child was improving since she was removed from the home.
‘She’s doing great,? said Pope-Starnes, who is handling the case. ?(The defense) has argued that it’s a medical problem, but she hasn’t had any injuries since she’s been in foster care.?
Rao’s attorney, James L. Feinberg, in fact, repeatedly asked both testifying physicians whether any of the injuries could have occurred accidentally.
‘Hypothetically, yes,? DeGraw said. ‘But this is an actual case, not a hypothetical case.?
The girl’s injuries included multiple rib fractures in different locations, in different stages of healing.
?(The injuries are) consistent only with abuse in my opinion,? he said.
Feinberg also asked about a number of diseases, vitamin deficiencies, and genetic abnormalities that may have contributed to the injuries sustained by the child, noting that a complete medical background did not exist since the child was adopted from India.
All lab work came back within the normal range and the child had no indicators or a condition that would cause bones to readily break.
Feinberg also took issue with terminology used during testimony, specifically the CPS worker’s use of the word ‘beat? in court while she used the word ‘spank? in her interview notes.
Overall, Feinberg said he didn’t believe testimony showed with certainty the child was abused.
‘Even if the court finds (the child was abused) there is no probable cause to show Malini Rao committed the abuse,? he said.
The case was assigned to 6th Circuit Court Judge Nancy J. Grant. Trial date has not yet been set.
Second-degree child abuse is a felony occurring when the defendant willfully abandons the child, fails to provide necessary food, clothing or shelter commits a reckless act which results in serious physical/mental harm and is punishable by up to four years in prison.
Third-degree child abuse is a high court misdemeanor occurring when the defendant knowingly or intentionally causes some physical harm to the child and is punishable by up to two years in prison.