Prince Frederick, MD – A Calvert County woman found guilty of child abuse May 19 will be sentenced in August, court documents stated. A jury found Diandra Noel Ward, 32 of Owings, guilty of first-and-second-degree child abuse. The incident is alleged to have occurred April 15, 2016. The victim was 3 months old at the time and Ward was the child’s daycare provider.
“While in Ms. Ward’s care the victim suffered a life-threatening brain injury that required emergency surgery,” a press release from the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office stated. “Four medical experts from Children’s National Medical Center opined that the victim suffered from non-accidental abusive head trauma caused by a shaking mechanism.” The board-certified physicians included a child abuse pediatrician, a pediatric neurosurgeon, an ophthalmologist and a neuro radiologist. “In addition to the diagnosis of abusive head trauma, the medical doctors also opined that the injury would have happened within hours of the victim undergoing surgery and that the symptoms of the victim’s injuries would have been almost simultaneous to the onset of symptoms,” the State’s Attorney’s Office press release stated.