A Michigan woman, accused of killing her friend’s 3-year-old non-verbal daughter by pouring scalding water on her and slamming her head against a bathtub, has been sentenced to 28 to 50 years in prison after being found guilty of the crime.
Per WKRC, Iesha Harris, 31, was handed the punishment on May 29 after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Harris was babysitting the minor, identified as Harmoni Henderson, when she killed her in March 2024.
Harris was initially charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse, but authorities dismissed those charges after she reached a plea deal.
“What’d she do? You can’t even tell me the truth about what happened,” Harmoni’s mother, Paris England, told Harris during her sentencing hearing, per FOX 2 Detroit. “My baby was 3. You was at her birthday party right before, right there next to me. You always been next to me. And for you to kill her, for what?”
Authorities in a statement said that Harris assaulted Harmoni at a home in the 15700 block of Southfield Freeway in Detroit on March 17, 2024. The victim was pronounced dead after she was transported to a hospital, and authorities said she died from blunt force trauma caused by Harris.
“She was having a hard time. My baby is autistic and nonverbal,” England said. “I think she got frustrated with her, plus her own daughter, and she slammed my baby’s head against the tub.”
Authorities said that for around 3 hours, Harris left her 1-year-old daughter and Harmoni unattended in a room as she smoked marijuana. She is said to have locked the minors during that period, and she got upset when she went back to the room and noticed Harmoni had vomited on herself, WKRC reported.
“Ms. Harris allegedly admitted to police she poured scalding water on top of the 3-year-old and slammed her head against the side of the bathtub,” Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Douglas said, WDIV reported.
England found her daughter unresponsive when she later got home. “She was already dead from the moment I got there,” England recalled. “She was gone.”
During her sentencing, Harris in a statement apologized to the victim’s family “from the bottom of her heart,” FOX 2 Detroit reported.
“I pray for peace and for healing for everyone’s heart. Most of all, I pray for forgiveness for the pain that I have caused you,” she said in the statement read by her attorney. “If I could rewind back today, I would. I took this plea in hopes of sparing the family the pain of the trial. Paris, please find it in your heart to one day forgive me. I will forever be broken. I’m sorry.”
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