MONESSEN, Pa. -- A Westmoreland County mother is charged with criminal homicide after her baby was left alone in a bathtub and died, but her friends call her a good mother who made a tragic mistake.
Seven-month-old Malachi Henderson was found unresponsive on Sept. 11 in his family's home at Highland Manor in Monessen. The child died two days later at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Police charged Malachi's mother, Seairia Henderson, with criminal homicide. Channel 4 Action News' Ari Hait was in District Judge Joseph Dalfonso's courtroom for the preliminary hearing Friday morning.
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Watch Ari Hait's Report From Court Video - Watch Jenniffer Miele's Report On Community Reaction Police said Henderson left Malachi in the tub while she went outside to smoke a cigarette and talk to friends.
Several of those friends testified on Friday. One person told the court she believes Henderson was outside for about 20 minutes before going back in and finding Malachi under water in the tub.
However, some of those witnesses were quick to defend Henderson outside court, Hait reported.
They told Channel 4 Action News that Henderson is a great mother who will never get over what happened that day.
"She was hysterical about the whole situation. She really couldn't tell me what's going on. I'm just glad I was there, somebody else was there, because I didn't want her to go through that by herself," said witness Keiauna Davis.
"It was a tragic mistake. I mean, people forget things. She goes through a lot on a daily basis as a single mother. Everybody is entitled to forget something, it just happened to be that, that the kids were actually in the tub, you know?" Siobhan Ford, another witness, told Hait.
A trial date for Henderson has not been set. She remains in custody without bond as she continues to deal with the loss of her child.
"What she's doing now, and anything that she's doing to herself, is worse than anything the justice system can inflict upon her," said Henderson's defense attorney, Brian Aston.
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