JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old Florida woman convicted of killing a 2-year-old girl with a wire flyswatter handle will spend the rest of her life in prison, a judge says.
Sam Ou, father of the victim, applauded the life prison sentence handed down this week to mother-of-two Syna Lim, who was babysitting 2-year-old Amara Ou in October 2006 when the child received fatal head injuries the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union reported Wednesday.
"I have relief the court part's over," Ou said of Tuesday's sentence on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. "I'm very pleased."
Additional details regarding how Ou's daughter sustained the injuries were not reported, but the Times-Union said the toddler died three days after being admitted to a Jacksonville hospital.
Assistant State Attorney Sam Garrison told Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper that Lim's actions were particularly traumatic to Amara's parents because the couple trusted the woman to babysit their child.
"They will never get over this loss," Garrison said. "All the defendant had to say was she didn't want to watch her, and this never would have happened."
