Day-Care Operator Gets 25 Years to Life for Fatal Shaking of 13-Month-Old Boy

SAN DIEGO —  A British woman who ran a day-care center in her home was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shaking a 13-month-old boy and slamming his head on the floor.

Manjit Basuta, 44, convicted in June of killing Oliver Smith, got the maximum sentence under a new state law covering fatal assaults on children.

Prosecutors said she killed the child in 1998 because he didn’t come when she called him for a diaper change.

“She never showed remorse for the victim or his family,” Superior Court Judge William Kennedy said.

Basuta sobbed as the judge imposed the sentence.

Audrey Amaral, the boy’s mother, carried a photo of the boy with her when she addressed the court before sentencing. She said she will always mourn her son and the man he will never become.

The only eyewitness to the killing was housekeeper Cristina Carillo, who testified that Basuta was angry at the boy because he kept watching television when she called him.