NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut woman accused of abandoning an 8-month-old girl in a dumpster pleaded not guilty Tuesday to assault and other charges.
Andiana Velez, 24, of Hamden, took part in the court hearing in New Haven via video conference from prison, Hearst Connecticut Media reported.
The girl was found in a dumpster outside a New Haven apartment complex on Oct. 12. A resident who found her said she was shivering and crying. She was taken to a hospital and discharged the next week after being treated for burns to her hands.
Police are still trying to determine how the baby’s hands were burned and who was responsible.
Police believe Velez was the girl’s babysitter. According to court records, Velez stabbed the baby’s 21-year-old mother during an argument at a gas station and took off with the child before abandoning her in the trash bin. The mother survived.
Paul Carty, who was appointed as Velez’s lawyer on Tuesday, said he could not say much about the case because he had not seen the police report and had not spoken with Velez.
Velez is charged with second-degree assault in connection with the stabbing, and risk of injury to a child and reckless endangerment for abandoning the child.
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