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Woman Set Her Newborn Baby On Fire In Middle Of New Jersey Street Just Hours After Birth, Sentenced To 30 Years

By Tara West
Published on: 10:29 PST, Apr 24, 2016

A New Jersey woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to setting her newborn daughter, Angelica, on fire in the middle of the street. The murderous mother gave birth to her daughter in a bathroom before taking the baby, with umbilical cord and placenta still attached, outside. The woman, 23-year-old Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, then doused the newborn in accelerant and set her on fire. The baby would die after receiving third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body.

The Daily Mail reports that 23-year-old Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier has learned her fate regarding the burning death of her newborn daughter. Dorvilier pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter after setting her just hours-old infant daughter on fire in the middle of a New Jersey street. The disturbed woman allegedly hid her pregnancy from her mother and sister, not telling anyone that she was expecting. On the day of the birth, no one in Hyphernkemberly’s family knew she had birthed the child alone in a bathroom.

The young mother claims that she had hit “rock bottom” when she decided to kill her newborn. She later apologized in front of the judge for “not giving my daughter, Angelica, the life she deserved.” The New York Daily News notes that Dorvilier had given birth to the baby in the restroom of her home just hours before taking the child outside with some WD-40 and a lighter. The woman then doused the newborn in the WD-40 and placed her in the middle of the street with her placenta and umbilical cord still attached. She then lit the baby on fire while telling a neighbor who witnessed the horror that she was burning waste.

However, the neighbor saw that it was a baby on fire on the ground and immediately began trying to extinguish the fire. Dave Joseph, the neighbor, called police as he held Dorvilier down on the ground and wrapped the baby in a charred towel. During a 911 call placed to authorities, Joseph can be heard calling Dorvilier “disgusting” as she told the man “it’s not mine” referring to the baby.

Despite the horrific death of the newborn, Hyphernkemberly’s sister, Dejennie, pleaded with the judge for a lighter sentence noting that her sister needed mental help not a jail sentence. However, Judge Terrence Cook said that the 30-year sentence was what “justice required” for a crime committed against the “weakest of the weak.”

“The crime in this case was committed against the weakest of the weak, a helpless newborn. All she knew was the extreme excruciating pain of being set on fire by her mother, the person who was supposed to love and protect her.”

Meanwhile, defense lawyers for the mother claim that the baby was conceived via sexual assault that caused Dorvilier to not be in her right mind at birth.

Sadly, prosecutors in the case say that the death was completely unnecessary as New Jersey has lenient “safe haven” laws in which newborn babies can be dropped off at designated locations with no questions asked. The mother would have not been prosecuted for abandoning the newborn and the child would have become a ward of the state. However, instead of giving the newborn baby a chance at life, Dorvilier decided to end the child’s life just hours after it began. The mother gave no reasoning as to why she did not utilize the safe haven laws if she felt she wasn’t prepared to be a mother.

What do you think about the 30-year sentence for setting a newborn baby on fire, killing the infant just hours after birth?

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