Who is Verphy Kudi? Teen mom who partied for 6 days was selling concert tickets the day baby daughter died
A teenage mother, who was out celebrating her 18th birthday, has admitted to causing the death of her 20-month-old daughter in Brighton out of neglect. Verphy Kudi’s daughter Asiah died out of starvation in a flat at a “supported housing” block in December 2019 after being left alone for six days without food or water.
The family of the mother, Verphy Kudi, have said they are “heartbroken and angry” as a serious case review has been launched into the incident, according to the Evening Standard. The 20-month-old baby was abandoned by her mother, who went to London, Coventry and Solihull, where she went partying for six days to celebrate her birthday. On Friday, March 26, Kudi appeared at Lewes Crown Court and entered a guilty to manslaughter plea on Friday.
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Who is Verphy Kudi?
Verphy Kudi, now 19, lived with her daughter, Asiah, in their apartment on Islingword Road where they had been hosted by social services since September 30, 2019. The baby was under the child protection scheme, but there was no social worker appointed at the time of death.
In a report by The Argus, Kudi's older sister, who hasn't been named, said she distanced herself and her family from the "troubled" teen mom and claimed Kudi had “the support system she needed”. She stressed the fact that Verphy was 18, and therefore of age, and that no one in her family was informed of the incident. "My whole family was there for her, all of us was there for her," she said.
On the morning of the day Asiah was found, Kudi had tried to sell concert tickets on Twitter, the Mail Online reports. In 9.30 am post, she wrote: "Three standing lil durk tickets for the 3rd Feb DM me." It is unclear at the moment whether the mum had returned home at the time of the post, or whether she was still away at the time. A October 2020 image showed Kudi urging people in a post to support her attempts to become a Pretty Little Thing model. She shared some photos and wrote: "#EveryBodyInPLT @four_models @OfficialPLT So your girl just applied, please like and retweet, sometimes just shoot your [basketball emoji]." Mail Online reports that the pictures have since been deleted.
Kudi's father, Muba Kudi, 59, said after the hearing: “My heart is so broken. My daughter was missing.” Her sister, Aisha Batrane told MailOnline, "This whole situation has completely broken my family. It might be entertainment for the rest of the world but it’s totally shattered us."
She said that Verphy had been estranged from the family for a long time and they had minimal contact with her. "We have spoken to her and we’re still not clear what she was doing for those six days, who she was with and why she left like that? Who the hell knows? We can’t understand it.," she said.
CCTV cameras showed Kudi leaving the building on December 5 at 5.39 pm, for London, Coventry and Solihull, more than 150 miles away from Brighton. She did not return until the evening of December 11, when she dialed 999 and told a call handler her baby would not wake up.
Asiah was taken to Royal Alexandra children’s hospital but was confirmed dead on arrival, according to the Guardian. Postmortem and forensic test reports found that the baby had starved, was dehydrated and had developed the flu. Her cause of death was marked as neglect.