Staten Island woman hit with charges over death of 1-year-old daughter who took her painkillers

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A Staten Island mom whose baby daughter took a fatal dose of painkillers faces manslaughter charges in the tot’s death.

A Staten Island mom whose baby daughter took a fatal dose of painkillers faces manslaughter charges in the tot's death, police said Monday.

Leila Wade, 39, was busted Monday night, accused of letting her 1-year-old daughter, Bianca Abdul, get her hands on one of her prescribed painkillers last year.

Bianca's family found the little girl lifeless in her playpen on March 20, 2017, at her Moreland St. apartment in Midland Beach.

Wade called 911. Bianca's body temperature was 70 degrees and she had signs of rigor mortis when cops found her, police sources said.

In October, the city medical examiner's office ruled Bianca's death a homicide, concluding she died of an overdose of morphine and diazepam.

Wade awaits arraignment on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless endangerment and child endangerment.

Bianca Abdul died after she got her hands on her mom's painkillers.

"I am glad justice has finally been served. I hope they throw the book at her," Bianca's father, Joseph Abdul, told the Daily News Monday. "Bianca, you will always be missed. Daddy loves you."

Joseph Abdul didn't live at the Moreland St. home and hadn't seen his daughter for a week before her death, police sources said. Wade had an order of protection against him, and when he showed up distraught at the scene the day of her death, police cuffed him and took him into custody.

He said he's not sure if he'll attend her court appearance, since she still has a court order barring him from contacting her.

"So hard and stressful. I cry every week still. I daydream of stuff I wish I could be doing with Bianca," he said.

Wade initially told investigators that Bianca tripped and hit her head on the living room coffee table three days earlier, but seemed fine the next day.

Leila Wade is led from the 122 Precinct Station house in Staten Island on Monday. She faces charges in connection to the death of her daughter. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)

In a June 2017 interview with the Staten Island Advance, Wade she said she feared Bianca got her hands on one of her painkillers— a mixture of morphine and naltrexone.

"That amount for a 15-pound baby, you're going to sleep," she told the newspaper. "You're going to sleep with no pain ... there's no crying out. It's immediate."

Bianca's family had been the subject of seven prior child abuse complaints. Some were deemed unfounded, but child welfare officials found credible an allegation of drug abuse against Wade in April 2015, sources said.

The following March, someone alleged drug use and inadequate supervision in the home, and that complaint was "indicated," meaning Child Protective Services found enough evidence to support the allegation that a child had been abused or neglected, sources said.

Wade's 12-year-old daughter was previously removed from the home but had been allowed to return, sources said. That girl has since been placed in a foster home, sources said.

Wade held her head down and said nothing as police officers led her from the 122th Precinct stationhouse in New Dorp on Monday night.