SPOKANE, Wash – Amlyann Harry, 22, is charged with first-degree assault of a child after reportedly shaking, slapping, and throwing her five-month-old newborn boy to the floor Sunday night. The infant is not likely to survive.
Harry is being held in the Spokane County Jail on a $1,000,000 bail while her baby fights for life in the NICU at Sacred Heart. According to the prosecution in court on Monday, the infant is not likely to recover from the brain bleed caused by his mother’s alleged attack.
At Monday’s court session, the judge also issued a Domestic Violence No Contact Order between Harry and her son.
According to court filings, Harry told Spokane Valley Police that her infant had been wailing for too long, so she “shook her baby and then slapped her baby three times with an open hand on his face.”
Harry then acknowledged throwing her infant “about three feet to the floor,” where he landed on his back, stopped breathing, and remained lifeless. When Harry’s mother and the baby’s grandmother arrived home, they discovered the horrifying scenario. According to court filings, Harry stated that she assumed the infant was dead, but she did not attempt to do CPR or phone 911; her mother did.
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When doctors arrived and took over CPR, the defendant admitted to police that it was not the first time she had harmed her child. Harry stated that she felt “dead inside” and had never felt affectionate for her baby.
On Monday, Amy Vega, the executive director of Vanessa Behan, a non-profit childcare organization whose main aim is to safeguard children and support families, commented on the unpleasant scenario.
“It makes me want to cry, there’s no reason for it, we know how to prevent that,” Vega replied. “How do we help parents know just to ask for help, it’s okay.”
Vanessa Behan’s quest is inspired by the abuse of a little girl named Vanessa Behan, who died as a result of serious child abuse when she was not much older than the baby boy at the focus of this story.
“This is how we got our start, because of a little girl who was abused to the point of death, and so we do hear these stories and they break your heart,” explained Vega.
Vega has worked in this field for decades, and she has heard and seen enough stories of child abuse to last a lifetime.
“There are so many circumstances that go on in a situation like this and any kind of a family dynamic, that if we could step back, without passing judgment, ‘how do we support a parent so that we don’t get to this outcome,'” said Vega.
Vega is not intimately acquainted with Harry or her family’s predicament, but she is aware of many families who are struggling.
“I think that we live in a society that is so quick to judge a parent and I think that lends to parents being afraid to ask for help,” she told the audience.
That is why Vanessa Behan is here to help children and families; whether your parenting issues are serious or mild, this team offers free 24-hour care and assistance to families.
The idea is to keep abusive stories like this one from being told again.
“We want to be on that prevention side of things because obviously, we see the devastating impact and effect of child abuse in a situation like this,” Vega stated.
If you require any type of childcare assistance, please contact Vanessa Behan at (509)-598-7490.