A Queens vegan couple were convicted yesterday of nearly starving their infant child to death – depriving her of breast or soy milk and feeding her a concoction of fruits, nuts and fish oil while ignoring her deteriorating condition.
An emotionally drained and exhausted jury spent 19 hours over three days poring over evidence – asking for read-backs from testimony three times – before finding Silva and Joseph Swinton, both 32, guilty of assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
They face up to 25 years in prison when they are sentenced May 19.
“The most vulnerable victims will be protected under the law,” Assistant DA Eric Rosenbaum said following the guilty verdict.
“It was willful neglect that went beyond mere negligence, mere recklessness. It was depraved [indifference]. And that’s what the jury found.”
Joseph Swinton’s lawyer disagreed.
“The parents were anything but indifferent in what they did with the child,” said Ronna Gordon-Galchus. She vowed to appeal.
“There are a lot of issues in the case that I believe will have merit on appeal,” she said.
As a stoic Silva Swinton was handcuffed and being led from the courtroom with Joseph, she turned to her crying supporters in the courtroom and gave a message for her children.
“Tell Ice and Ini that I love them,” she said.
Some jurors were visibly shedding tears in the courtroom, and several others cried once they retreated to the jury room.
“It was a very emotional case,” Rosenbaum said. Outside the courthouse, Joseph Swinton’s sister said she was enraged at the verdict and what she called “lies” presented by the prosecution.
The children “will be back with their parents,” April Swinton told The Post. “It might not be at this moment, but they will be back with their parents.”
The baby girl, Ice, was discovered severely malnourished on Nov. 16, 2001, by investigators and EMS workers following up a tip. Five months later, the couple was arrested.
Authorities charged the Swintons were well aware of Ice’s dire condition but refused to get her medical attention. Medical and vegan experts called by the prosecution repeatedly said the child was lucky to be alive, and portrayed a horrific picture of the famished and dying baby removed from her parents. They said she had a distended belly, bumps on her ribs, and was half the weight of a normal child.
A medical expert for the defense countered by testifying that the baby’s problems came after she was removed from the Swintons’ home. The doctor said the sedatives she was given by doctors before her MRI caused her breathing problems. He said the rickets were a delayed development from premature birth.