Caesarian death mother 'assaulted daughter four years ago'

The woman charged with killing one of her twins by refusing a Caesarean section was convicted of child endangerment in Pittsburgh nearly four years ago, a newspaper has reported.

The 2000 conviction of Melissa Rowland stemmed from a supermarket incident in which she punched her daughter several times in the face after the toddler picked up a candy bar and began eating it, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said. Witnesses said Rowland screamed: "You ate the candy bar and now I can’t buy my cigarettes."

A court in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, sentenced Rowland to five years on probation for simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. Her daughter was turned over to a child-welfare agency.

Prosecutors in Salt Lake City charged Rowland on Thursday with criminal homicide and child endangerment for refusing doctors’ advice to get a C-section. Charging documents allege Rowland was warned a number of times between Christmas and January 9 that her twins would likely die if she did not get immediate medical treatment.

One of the twins, a boy, was stillborn on January 13. A girl survived and has since been adopted, but prosecutors say she tested positive for cocaine and alcohol.

Rowland, 28, of the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, has denied prosecutors’ claims she avoided the surgery because of fears of scarring.

Rowland’s attorney, Michael Sikora, said Rowland had a history of mental illness. Rowland said she attempted suicide twice and has spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

Interviewed in jail, Rowland said her two children from her estranged husband had lived with his parents since 1997. She did not mention the prior conviction and said her children, ages seven and nine, no longer lived with her because she thought they were better off with their grandparents.