Ohio mother sentenced after severely malnourished toddler found gasping for air

XENIA, Ohio (TCN) -- A 26-year-old mother will spend seven to 10.5 years in prison in an "extreme case of child abuse" after her 3-year-old daughter was found malnourished and covered with bug bites in a filthy apartment.

The Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that a judge handed down the sentence against Rabyah Muballigh on July 25 for felonious assault and endangering children. Muballigh initially pleaded not guilty and underwent a forensic evaluation in which a judge found her competent to stand trial. A court found her guilty of the charges on May 30.

On Jan. 8, Fairborn Police and Fire personnel responded to a report of a toddler having trouble breathing. The 911 caller claimed to be a woman named "Ariella Simpson." Officers knocked on the door, but no one answered. They eventually entered and noticed the apartment was "covered in filth and contained a litany of insect infestations."

According to the prosecuting attorney’s office, officers found a 3-year-old child in a bedroom in a "contracted position" and "wearing nothing but a soiled diaper." Officers reportedly approached the child and realized she was alive after she "gasped for air."

The child was transported to a local hospital and transferred to the intensive care unit. Prosecutors said the child was severely malnourished and weighed only 16 pounds. The victim had sustained multiple insect bites and other medical complications reportedly caused by her mother, Muballigh.

Prosecutors said the child remained hospitalized for several weeks.

Police identified Muballigh as the primary suspect in her daughter’s abuse and took her into custody. She reportedly confessed to using a fake name when calling 911, and she told officials she had only taken her child to a pediatrician one time.

On July 17, a jury indicted the victim’s biological father, 29-year-old Corey Moody, in connection with the toddler’s condition. He faces one count of endangering children, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence. Officials arrested Moody on July 22, and he remains held on $100,000 bail. He is scheduled to go to trial in October.

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David Hayes stated, "This is the worst case of child abuse I’ve seen in my 20-year career. Muballigh is going to prison for several years, as she should. Her primary responsibility was to care for that child and she failed to do that and caused that child serious physical harm."