MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A 7-year-old girl had a buildup of blood on the surface of the brain, a black eye, a bruised shoulder, and swelling on the right side of her face, according to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Her mother took her to the emergency room on July 29, 2023, and “on her way to surgery,” the girl “confided in a nurse that her babysitter had been hitting her on an ongoing basis with a metal spoon and at times with a remote control or phone,” according to deputies’ report.
Deputies arrested Leonor Garcia, then 62, shortly after 2:20 a.m. on July 31, 2023, at her home near Cutler Bay. Prosecutors filed two felony child abuse charges, and for the third day, on Thursday, Garcia arrived at Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Carmen Cabarga’s courtroom for trial.
During the deputies’ investigation, the mother said Garcia first attributed the injuries to “cartwheels,” according to a deputy’s report on the case. Garcia, now 65, testified in her own defense on Thursday and denied all of the accusations.
Court records show the girl underwent several diagnostic scans on July 29-30, 2023. Dr. Sabiha Karakas-Rother, a board-certified pediatric neuroradiologist with over 20 years of experience, also testified.
“Imaging cannot determine the type or timing of injury accurately,” Karakas-Rother said.
Court records show that during a deposition before the trial, Karakas-Rother said the treating team reached no definitive “abuse diagnosis.”
On Wednesday, the 10-year-old brain bleed survivor testified in Spanish. With the help of a court translator, she said Garcia used corporal punishment to correct her when she made mistakes during English lessons.
“If I cried, she would tell me she was going to hit me ... She threatened me with a plier ... that if I told my mother anything, she was going to pull my eye out,” the girl said in Spanish, according to the court’s translator.
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