Mother Charged With Leaving Girls Alone In Deadly Bronx Fire
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Bronx woman was indicted Tuesday on charges that she left her two young daughters before a fire broke out and killed them this past April.
Haya Konte, 27, was indicted on two counts each of criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office.
Konte was arraigned before Bronx Supreme Court Judge William Mogulescu on Tuesday, and was released on a recognizance bond after surrendering her passport, prosecutors said. She is due back in court on Sept. 7.
The woman was seen on surveillance video at a laundromat across the street at the time of the fire, which broke out in the apartment where she lived on Webster Avenue in the Butler Houses, around 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, CBS2's Steve Langford reported at the time.
The woman claimed she sublets the apartment to another adult and told police she assumed that person was home when she left the apartment, CBS2 reported at the time.
Her daughters were trapped inside the apartment, surrounded by flames and thick smoke. Despite their best efforts, the conditions made it impossible for neighbors to reach the two toddlers.
Police initially identified the girls as 18-month-old Amanda Jabie and 2-year-old Jannubi Jabie, but prosecutors identified the younger girl as Adama Jabbie and the older girl as Jainabu Jabbie.
The two children were rushed to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center where they were later pronounced dead, officials said.
Prosecutors said incense had been left burning in two places of the home and ignited the fire.
