Woman charged with manslaughter for death of fetus in fight with mother

A woman who allegedly got into a brutal fight with an acquaintance at a Neponset Avenue nail salon on April 10 has been indicted for the death of the acquaintance's six-month-old fetus.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office charges that after Ayanna Woodhouse and the other woman got into a disagreement while having their nails done at Tulip Nail, 408 Neponset Ave, Woodhouse punched the woman in the face, knocking her to the ground. Then, prosecutors say, Woodhouse repeatedly kicked and punched the woman as she lay on the ground, several times in the stomach.

In a statement, the DA's office says, "The mother was later transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where the baby girl was delivered in an emergency Cesarean section. The baby did not survive. After autopsy, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of her death to be placental abruption - a detachment of the placenta from the uterus - due to maternal trauma."

The DA's office says the manslaughter charge is warranted because the baby could have survived if not for the trauma.

Prosecutors say Woodhouse's cousin was the father of the baby.

Woodhouse is expected to be arraigned tomorrow on manslaughter and assault charges in Suffolk Superior Court.

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