New Jersey school bus aide sentenced in 6-year-old girl’s death
Amanda Davila has pleaded not guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the 2023 death of Fajr Williams.
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New Jersey (WCBS/WLNY) — A New Jersey school bus aide was sentenced Friday morning in the death of 6-year-old Fajr Williams.
Amanda Davila was sentenced to 3 years on child endangerment charges in a Somerville courtroom in Somerset County. She was also ordered to pay more than $19,000 in restitution.
Davila faced a minimum of 5 years in prison and now has 45 days to appeal. Her attorney spoke outside the courthouse after the sentencing and told reporters he plans to apply for her early release within approximately 90 days.
“A child lost their life, and she’s partly responsible,” he said. “So, it is what it is.”
During trial, jurors were shown video of Williams sliding down in her wheelchair and being strangled by a harness back in 2023. Davila was seen on her cellphone with her earbuds in, never looking back to check on the girl.
Davila told jurors she’s remorseful and has been suffering from PTSD since the incident.
“I feel bad for what happened, and I am so sorry that it did happen, and I made a mistake,” she testified.
Her attorney blamed Williams’ family, in part, for not strapping her in properly.
“It’s the parent’s responsibility to buckle the top and bottom parts. The parents, I guess she delegated to her 14-year-old daughter that day, did put the top part. She didn’t put the bottom, and that’s why the little girl slipped,” defense attorney Michael Policastro said when Davila was convicted. “If that bottom harness was fastened, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“It was her fault for not doing her job,” Williams’ mother, Najmah Nash, responded. “We did our job. We got my baby to the bus. She was strapped in, and that’s a fact. So, any description, or any disbelief in that, is shame on you.”
Nash said she would keep fighting for a law in her daughter’s name to give bus aides more training.
“I still don’t have my child. She’s gone forever,” she told reporters after the verdict.
Davila was found not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated manslaughter and reckless manslaughter in the case. If convicted of the more serious charges, she could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
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