Toddler recovering in hospital after alleged assault by babysitterBy Shannon Ballard Photojournalist: Andy Nitchman - 7:57 PM March 10, 2017
ANCHORAGE –
An Anchorage babysitter is facing second-degree assault for allegedly throwing a 13-month-old child several feet into a wooden piano bench.
While Angelina Toilolo-Kapeli waits for her trial, little Chase Edwards is struggling to heal from multiple skull fractures.
Chase’s father, Kevin Edwards, says Toilolo-Kapeli was his roommate and that he had no reason not to trust her to watch his son while he was at work. He had done it several times before.
Detectives with the Anchorage Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit say Toilolo-Kapeli changed her story several times about what happened the day of Feb. 27, when the incident occurred. She first told police the baby fell off the couch and hit his head. Several days later she told officers she had thrown the child because she was feeling frustrated and stressed out.
“I would have left work early and rushed home to take care of him if I knew that my sitter was having a freak out session,” Edwards said.
Chase has been in the hospital for nearly two weeks — his skull fractured in several places after police say he was thrown across a room, hitting the edge of a piano bench. Edwards says doctors still don’t know the full extent of the injuries his son suffered, allegedly at the hands of his babysitter.
“He can’t really swallow, he’s having a hard time with hard foods, and then there is the dead tissue,” Edwards said. “You don’t know what his life is going to be like.”
Edwards says his son nearly died that day. As his baby heals, Edwards wants to see the woman accused of hurting Chase serve the maximum sentence.
“We want to just try to get some awareness raised so that these kinds of things do happen less and less because these innocent kids don’t deserve this,” Edwards said.
There are resources available for parents or care providers who fear they may hurt a child or are feeling the stresses of caregiving:
National Parent Helpline 1-855-427-2736Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453
KTVA 11’s Shannon Ballard can be reached via email or on Facebook and Twitter.