Mother charged after daughter dies in car

A Georgia mother has been charged with murder after she left her three-year-old daughter with Down’s syndrome strapped in a sweltering car.

Ashante Burgess died shortly after being rushed to an Atlanta hospital where doctors said her temperature was 108 F (42 C).

Police also charged Nakia Burgess, 28, with cruelty. The woman’s lawyer, Phinia Aten, said her client left the girl in the car because she could not find affordable day care.

Aten said Ashante was playing with a chalkboard the first time Burgess checked on her.

Burgess found her daughter unconscious around noon, less than 90 minutes after arriving for her first day at work as a transcriber.

"She is extremely remorseful about what happened. This was her only child," Aten said. "At this point, her life has no meaning to her.”"

Burgess wept during a brief hearing yesterday and was placed on suicide watch at the Atlanta-Fulton County Jail.

She was supposed to have started the temporary job on Monday, but had trouble finding child care, her lawyer said. She was given an ultimatum to show up on Wednesday or lose the job, Aten said.

Neighbours called Burgess a 'very good mother'.

"You could tell she loved her child," said Darline Philpott, a retired police officer. "I know this will destroy her.”"

Ashante died one day after the death of an infant in Macon, Georgia, whose mother left her in a hot car for four hours. Eight-month-old Reagan Gray had been on life support since she was found in a car park on Sunday.

Her mother, Sherrie Davis Gray, told police she thought she had taken her baby to a relative’s house before she went to work. Charges have not been filed in that case.