Texas Mother gets 20 years for failure to protect her children

[MuffyBee]

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=254117
   
Mother gets 20 years for failure to protect her children
9/30/2009 8:23 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

A mother of three will spend 20 years in prison for failing to protect her children from her boyfriend.

Debora DaSilva pleaded guilty to a charge of injury to a child Wednesday in a Williamson County court.

According to prosecutors, back in July of 2008, DaSilva's daughter, 3-year-old Angelica Ubillus, was taken to Dell Children's Medical Center where she died. The doctors who treated her said she had a bite mark and bruising on her body.

Later DaSilva said her boyfriend, Timothy Moncebaiz, hit and bit her children over the course of a month. She later testified that he slammed her 3-year-old daughter's head into a tree, causing fatal injuries. Moncebaiz was convicted last December and sentenced to 50 years in prison for injury to a child.

In Texas, it is a crime for a parent to fail to protect a child or provide medical attention upon discovering an illness or injury.