This is a tragic story that has no satisfactory ending all the way around. A 58-year-old nanny in Dallas, Georgia, was arrested after she had a long phone call. During the 45 minutes she was on the phone, the two 5-year-old girls she was charged with babysitting got into the pool in the backyard and both drowned. This is horrible enough, but one of the girls was also her grandchild.
It was the father of one of the girls, who was out with the girl's mother doing errands when the tragedy happened, who looked at phone records and determined that the nanny, Marta Corvi, had been on the phone with a friend at the time the girls drowned.
Corvi has been charged with reckless conduct, which is a misdemeanor. I'd be surprised if she spends any time at all in jail. Should she? While no doubt it is terribly irresponsible to not pay attention to two such young girls while on the phone, surely this was a horrible accident, and the woman is probably feeling awful. Children can move quickly and get into trouble very quickly. She is not the only adult who has made a bad judgment call. Do the parents bear any responsibility for not having a pool cover?
I can't imagine what the parents of the little girls are going through, but I can't imagine what Corvi is going through either. This is just awful in every which way. It's one of those things where the punishment, even if it means no jail time, will be bad enough because two little girls have lost their lives, and two families have been destroyed.
Should Marta Corvi serve jail time?
Image via Paulding County Sheriff's Office
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Comments 62
A child in my community drowned at a local pool yesterday. My daughter witnessed the attempt to resuscitate, which was unsuccessful! I was horrified and instantly wanted to place blame on the lifeguards, camp counselors, anyone I could! I realize I am wrong! This was a tragic accident and nothing more. This could happen to anyone!
Yes, I believe she should be charged. There is an old school mentality out there that kids don't need to be watched. To our own parents, watching our children so closely seems ridiculous to them - complete with eye rolling and comments about how their own kids turned out just fine. The well being of children should never be put solely in the hands of luck or the grace of God; the person that is responsible for watching them is just that - responsible. Yes, accidents do happen, but this is negligence.
She probably won't do any jail time based on the charges, and the parents now are left to deal with a lifetime of pain. Wow, this lady was so careless it makes me ill. I'm so sorry the parents will have to carry an empty space in their heart, while she will easily live out her life without paying any consequences. What excuse could she possibly have for being on the phone for almost an year w/o supervising the little girls? She'll probably make up excuses for the rest of her life to "feel" better about the tragedy she and only she caused.
She's responsible. Any sensible parent knows that you NEVER leave a child alone in a bathtub. And the same is true if you have a swimming pool. The pool should have been enclosed with a high fence and locked when no one was using it. But since it wasn't, this "nanny" should have been watching the girls even more closely. Leaving the girls unsupervised for forty five minutes while she talked on the phone is reckless and in my opinion, endangering the lives of the girls. When you have an open in-ground pool with two five year olds playing outside unsupervised, what do you think will happen? This woman needs jail time.
First of all she doesn't look like her elevator goes all the way to the top. Second, no portable phones? Third how can you "watch" children and not check on them in 45 minutes. She has to live with this total selfishness and how is it she didn't hear anything at all from at least one of the little angels before she drowned, like a scream? Negligence with time to be served.
This woman's job was to look after these girls. Yes, she deserves jail time.
i'm sorry but i'm calling bullshit on this. i read about another tragic story on this website, where a family was camping, the two parents were asleep and the two kids snuck out in the middle of the night and drowned in the lake. and those parents are facing 12 years. how is sleeping not a good enough excuse to not go to jail, but talking on the phone and not paying attention is? if those other parents deserve to be charged and sentenced to 12 years (which i don't think is right) then this woman deserves 20. a horrible accident where the person responsible feels horrible could also describe a drunk driving accident. but nobody excuses those. i'm sorry but this woman was extremely negligent. she should have waited to talk to her friend until she got home. it's not like it was an emergency, like if she was on the phone with 911 and getting instructions to give her husband CPR or something. there's no reason why chatting on the phone with a friend should excuse 2 five year olds losing their lives.
Had they had a POOL FENCE installed, it would've never happened! PERIOD! So, for the father to blame the nanny/housekeeper...he needs to look in the freakin' mirror!