Her idea of motherly love was to deny her 12-year-old child food and beat her with a broom.
An Ozone Park woman was ordered Thursday to serve 15 years in prison for severely abusing her stepdaughter over an 18-month period, prosecutors announced on Friday.
Sheetal Ranot, 35, of 96th Street was convicted in July of first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of child for her repeated attacks on 12-year-old Maya Ranot inside their home between Dec. 1, 2012, and May 6, 2014, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. He called Sheetal Ranot “the epitome of an evil stepmother.”
“Not only did she refuse to provide basic nourishment, but the defendant also wantonly beat and abused the girl, inflicting pain still evident by the scars that mark her body today,” Brown said in a statement. “No child deserves to be treated in this manner.”
Prosecutors said Sheetal Ranot repeatedly attacked Maya Ranot about her body and face, causing various bruises and severe pain. In two separate incidents, Sheetal Ranot kicked Maya in the face and attacked her with a wooden rolling pin. Each attack caused various facial injuries.
Throughout the period of abuse, authorities noted, Sheetal Ranot repeatedly locked Maya in her bedroom for extended periods of time and wouldn’t feed her. The starvation was so severe that the girl weighed just 58 pounds on May 6, 2014, the day in which Sheetal Ranot smacked Maya’s wrist with a broken metal broom handle.
The attack caused a bone-deep laceration and severe blood loss. EMS units were called to the home and found Maya lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen; Brown said the tendons of the girl’s left wrist were exposed. Maya was brought to Elmhurst Hospital, where she underwent surgery and was hospitalized for an extended period of time.
Following an investigation, the 106th Precinct Detective Squad arrested Sheetal Ranot and the victim’s biological father, Rajesh Ranot, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of second- and third-degree abuse, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
