Queens mother pleads guilty in 2018 death of 13-month-old daughter

QUEENS — A Queens mother pleaded guilty Thursday in the 2018 death of her 13-month-old daughter, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Tina Torabi, 30, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault after her toddler twins were found seriously injured at their Queens home on Ashby Avenue on Oct. 3, 2018.

The twin girl, Elaina, who suffered ongoing abuse and was found unconscious, died at the hospital from “fatal child abuse syndrome,” according to the Medical Examiner. The injuries included lacerations and cigarette burns. Her death was ruled a homicide earlier this year.

“The term ‘fatal child abuse syndrome’ is used when a child sustains injuries over a period of time,” according to the examiner.

EMS workers also found the girl’s twin brother with serious injures, including bite marks, bruising, lacerations and a broken pelvis. Torabi was charged with felony assault.

Officials discovered three other siblings — ages 5, 4 and 2 — unattended in the basement apartment in “deplorable, filthy and unsanitary conditions.” All of the children were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Torabi is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30. She faces 4 to 12 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and eight and a half years on the assault charge.

Investigators planned on questioning the twin’s father, but he was found dead on the balcony of a hotel days after his daughter’s death. Investigators said at the time that his death was likely a suicide.