Friday, October 13, 2006

 Video Shows Nanny Beat Infant Girl, Police Say
By KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER   

Their 5-month-old daughter was unusually lethargic, so an Upper Saddle River couple hid a rolling camcorder in their home to see how the nanny was treating the baby. 

After leaving the infant alone with the baby sitter, they returned to watch the video -- then called an ambulance immediately. 

 The nanny, Manjula Patel of Rochelle Park, was caught on tape smacking, shaking and stomping the hysterically crying infant, authorities said. 

"It was a horrifying video," said Michael Mordaga, chief of detectives at the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. "We have detectives who deal with child-abuse cases on a daily basis, and it was too traumatic for them to watch." 

Although a preliminary test Wednesday showed the infant suffered from numerous fractures, a more thorough examination Thursday showed that the girl had several bruises but no broken bones, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. 

Patel, 51, was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment, both second-degree offenses carrying up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. 

She was being held on $200,000 bail Thursday at the Bergen County Jail, pending an appearance in Superior Court in Hackensack today. 

The baby, who was being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center, was expected to make a full physical recovery, Molinelli said. 

"The real tragedy here is that this is a baby that can't talk, can't explain what happened," Mordaga said. "Thank God for the video-tape." 

Patel arrived in the United States in June from her native India and has been on a working visa, Molinelli said. The Upper Saddle River couple hired her six weeks ago after seeing her baby-sitting ad in a local Indian newspaper, he said. 

Patel lived with the couple on weekdays and stayed at the Ramada Inn in Rochelle Park on weekends, the prosecutor said. 

Yash Modi, manager of the two-star hotel on West Passaic Street, said he never saw Patel at the hotel and learned only a few days ago that she was staying there on weekends with family members. 

Among the family members was Patel's sister, Ranjan Patel, who said on Thursday that she was surprised by the arrest. 

"As far as I know, she is a good person," Ranjan Patel said through an interpreter. 

Manjula Patel's husband, who is a housekeeper, and their three teenage children also live in the hotel, the sister said. The family, which lived on a farm in the Indian state of Gujarat, moved to the United States recently, she said. 

Molinelli said detectives were trying to track down another family for which Manjula Patel worked before she took the job in Upper Saddle River. 

E-mail: markos@northjersey.com 

The Record  of Bergen County, NJ