Prosecutor calls 3-year-old found in roach-infested apartment ‘one of the worst things’ he’s seen

FAIRBORN — Police and prosecutors say a three-year-old found in a roach-infested apartment is one of the worst cases of child abuse they have ever seen.

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News Center 7 has followed this story since January when Fairborn police were called to the 300 block of Wallace Drive on reports of a child having trouble breathing.

As previously reported, Rabyah Muballigh, 25, pleaded no contest to one count of felonious assault and endangering children on May 30, according to Greene County Common Pleas Court records.

The court accepted her plea and found her guilty.

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News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott spoke with Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David Hayes about the case.

“This is one of the worst things, probably the worst thing that I’ve seen a mother do to their child,” he said.

In his 20-year career, he struggled to understand why.

“There really aren’t words appropriate for me to say, on television, with regard to how offensive that was,” said Hayes.

McDermott said the girl weighed only 16 pounds, had bug bites covering her body, and was lying in her feces back in January.

Muballigh was arrested by police outside the apartment.

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She went in front of the judge late last month on the charges.

“She pleaded no contest, and was immediately found guilty,” said Hayes. “We knew that she would be found guilty straightaway by the court.”

Hayes also spoke about her court behavior.

“She was very subdued, I can tell you that,” Hayes told McDermott. “There were no tears. There were no other outward expressions of emotion.”

McDermott also spoke with Fairborn Police on Tuesday. They girl spent four months in the hospital and gained almost 10 pounds.

She interacted with hospital staff and is now in foster care.

“What we would love to see is a time machine where we can simply go back and make things not happen,” said Hayes. “But our role and responsibility in this system is to make sure that people are held accountable. And we did that in this case.

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Muballigh will be sentenced in July. She could go to prison for up to 12 years.

McDermott called her attorney but got no response.

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