A day after a 3-year-old girl was smothered to death inside a pullout couch while playing with two other children, police arrested a man who was supposed to be looking after her.
Mohamed Barry, 50, told investigators he left an apartment on W. 140th St. in Harlem for 10 minutes, in so doing leaving his girlfriend’s daughter, Aissante Diallo, 3, and two other girls — a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old — unattended, police said.
Aissante and the 10-year-old wound up stuffed inside the couch. The older girl managed to wiggled out, but Aissante was unable to do so, and was likely asphyxiated, according to officials.
Authorities were called to the home and found the little girl unconscious, officials said. She was rushed to Harlem Hospital, but could not be saved.
Barry was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, police said.
With Marla Bahloul
Originally Published:
