A nanny convicted of trying to murder an infant by stuffing a baby wipe down his throat was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison — as the boy’s mother said in a victim impact statement that the crime will always haunt her.
Meredith Sondler-Bazar called defendant Marianne Benjamin-Williams a “fraud” who had perpetrated “the most horrific thing that has ever happened to our son and to our family.”
In a statement Bazar read to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ruth Pickholz, she recalled the aftermath of the shocking May 18, 2017, crime.
“Watching [the victim] struggle to breathe and not know whether my 8-week-old son would live or die is an experience that will haunt me for the rest of my life,” she said.
Last December, it took a jury just one day to convict Williams, 47, of attempted murder, assault, strangulation and related charges.
Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg and Kristen Caruso argued that the babysitter had used a sharp object to jam the wipe down the infant’s throat because she was angry that his parents had not paid her more.
The boy had turned blue and was gasping for air by the time he got to Bellevue Hospital, where a team of puzzled doctors rushed him into surgery and discovered the balled-up wipe and deep cuts to his tongue and throat.
The defense argued that the child’s older sister, who was just 1 at the time, could have shoved the wipe into his mouth.
After Bazar read her statement, Williams sobbed as she begged the judge for mercy and insisted she was innocent.
“The prosecution took things out of context, picked words and presented them in a twisted way to build intent and it worked,” she whined.
Williams did admit that she had created a bogus resume and references, which got her the gig.
“My life is over, my dreams are gone,” she said. “I ask only for your mercy.”



