OGDEN, Utah -- A mother accused of giving her disabled daughter a nearly deadly amount of alcohol will go to jail for one year.
Raquel Borce was sentenced by a 2nd District Court judge in Ogden on Wednesday.
In April 2013, Borce’s daughter was found unconscious inside her Weber County apartment. Le’A Silva, who was 3 at the time, suffers from cerebral palsy and cannot walk or talk.
"It's very hard, but I don't think about it,” said her father, Paul Silva.
Le’A, who is now 5, almost died from alcohol poisoning at the hospital on April 11, 2013. According to Silva, her blood alcohol content was about 12 times the legal limit.
"She was comatose at that time, unresponsive, very low heart rate,” he said. “Her oxygen levels were very low."
In September, Borce pleaded no contest to a charge of felony child abuse. She argued that while Le’A was in her care, she is not the one who gave her daughter alcohol. Borce’s attorney has contended that it is possible a nurse at the home harmed the child, however, that did not stand in court.
"I'll never forgive," Silva said. “She knows she did it, and she just don't want to confess that she did it. Just the reaction to the visitations, not coming to do her visitations, she never fought for her."
Borce was taken into custody immediately following Wednesday’s hearing.
Silva now maintains full custody of his daughter.
"Everyone here loves her, all in her family, so she is in good hands,” he said.
