Tuesday, April 12, 2005
D.A. BROWN: QUEENS MOTHER PLEADS GUILTY TO INTENTIONAL ASSAULT FOR VIOLENT SHAKING OF HER TWO-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER THAT CAUSED PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Queens mother has pled guilty to assault for violently shaking her two-year-old daughter and causing her to sustain serious physical injury and permanent brain damage.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant has admitted her guilt, waived her right to appeal and acknowledged that she caused irreparable harm to her daughter. Shaken Baby Syndrome is the leading cause of child abuse deaths each year. Its victims are innocent and helpless children, often injured by those charged to protect them. These smallest victims are often impaired for life or killed. Care givers of children who cry should heed the important message that these cases unfortunately bring to our attention: normal babies cry. There are many solutions to deal with a crying baby, and shaking is not one of them. Never, under any circumstances, shake a baby.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Bifen Jiang, 33, of 192-14 Crocheron Avenue in Flushing, Queens. The defendant pled guilty yesterday to Assault in the First Degree before Queens Criminal Court Judge Pauline A. Mullings who indicated that she would sentence the defendant to seven and one-half years in prison on April 26, 2005.
District Attorney Brown said that the defendant admitted in court yesterday that on December 7, 2004 she violently and repeatedly shook her daughter, Vivian Li, two. As a result, the child sustained the devastating effects of shaken baby syndrome, including brain hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages and life threatening brain swelling. She will suffer numerous permanent disabilities.
Assistant District Attorney P. Leigh Bishop of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Marjory D. Fisher, Bureau Chief, and Kenneth M. Appelbaum and Lucinda C. Suarez, Deputy Bureau Chiefs and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.