Woman guilty after healthy girl, four, injected with insulin and left disabled

By Aine Fox, Reporter16th July 2019News EnglandChild Abuse, Courts / Justice, London, News England

A woman has been found guilty of injecting a healthy four-year-old girl with insulin, leaving her brain damaged and severely disabled, prosecutors said.

Chantell Graham was convicted of giving the child insulin twice in June 2016, despite the fact she was not diabetic, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The 33-year-old had denied one count of administering a poison or noxious substance with intent and one count of administering a poison or noxious substance so as to endanger life and cruelty to a person under 16 years.

But a jury at Isleworth Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on Tuesday, the CPS said.

Analysis of Graham’s phone showed she had searched phrases including “can tongue biting mean seizures?” and “can a seizure cause brain damage?”, prosecutors said.

A video of the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffering a seizure on a hospital bed was also found on Graham’s phone, prosecutors added.

Cindy Fayefunmi, from the CPS, said: “This was a despicable act against an innocent young child who was once described as bright and articulate with no speech defects or behavioural problems.

“She has now been left with significant long-term damage from which she may never recover.

“Graham denied administering the insulin and claimed it must have been someone else, but the prosecution was able to prove that it was Graham who was in fact responsible for the cruelty.

“I hope this conviction provides some comfort and a sense of justice to all those who love and care for the victim.”

Graham, with an address in Tottenham, is due to be sentenced at the same court on September 6.