Woman sentenced in death of Filipina maid in N.J.
Demona888
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Feb 23 (Reuters) - A New Jersey judge Tuesday sentenced a
nurse to almost six years in prison for the beating death of her Filipina nanny
in 1996.
Marcelina Baluch, 40, sobbed as Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Mathias
Rodriguez handed down sentences that totalled five years and nine months for
her November 1998 convictions of reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault and
hindering apprehension.
The maximum sentence possible was 20 years in prison.
Baluch, a registered nurse and a Philippines native, was tried separately from
her husband, Pakistani-born Ejaz Baluch, for the death of their live-in maid
and nanny, 28-year-old Imelda Ritua.
Ejaz Baluch was cleared of murder last April, and he is on probation for
assault and hindering apprehension.
Then financial controller for the Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel in New York City,
Baluch brought Ritua to the United States, promising her an accounting job at
the hotel but then employing her at his home.
Police found Ritua's badly bruised body in March 1996 in a remote wooded area
near Atlantic City, about 100 miles from the couple's Edison, New Jersey home.
The corpse was wrapped in plastic garbage bags, and a medical examiner found
she died of heart failure and trauma.
Marcelina Baluch will be eligible for parole in about a year and a half, a
court administrator said.
Ritua's parents last year filed an $80 million wrongful death lawsuit in
Manhattan federal court in connection with their daughter's death.
19:45 02-23-99
Emma Chase VanCott
: NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Feb 23 (Reuters) - A New Jersey judge Tuesday sentenced a
: nurse to almost six years in prison for the beating death of her Filipina nanny
: Marcelina Baluch, 40, sobbed as Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Mathias
: Rodriguez handed down sentences that totalled five years and nine months for
: her November 1998 convictions of reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault and
: hindering apprehension.
: Police found Ritua's badly bruised body in March 1996 in a remote wooded area
: near Atlantic City, about 100 miles from the couple's Edison, New Jersey home.
: The corpse was wrapped in plastic garbage bags, and a medical examiner found
: she died of heart failure and trauma.
She HID THE BODY, and only got 5 years? Hello?
That's murder more than manslaughter, isn't it?
(Dunno about NJ law, but it seems to me that it wasn't an "accidental
death" if the body was concealed afterwards!)
-ECV