38-year-old Hilary Ulp of Clinton Township has been convicted of first degree child abuse. Following her week-long trial, the jury took only 35 minutes to deliberate, before returning the guilty verdict. The accusations against Ulp that resulted in this verdict stemmed from an incident that took place on May 14th, 2015.

 

Ulp was babysitting her then-boyfriend’s 14-month-old toddler for the evening while he was out playing cards with his friends. Just after 9 o’clock the following morning, Kevin Kuras picked up his son, Nicolas Kuras, only to discover that something was terribly wrong with his baby. The child was completely unresponsive, his head flopping around on his neck. Frantic, he had Ulp call 911.

 

First Responders say the abuse was obvious

 

EMTs who responded to the scene claim that they were able to tell instantly that the child had been abused. Both Kuras and Ulp were immediately interviewed. However when police discovered that Ulp had been alone with the baby all of the previous evening while Kuras was out, they released Kuras and focused the investigation on Ulp.

 

According to hospital administrators, Nicolas suffered a severe head injury causing bleeding on the brain, along with a broken pelvis, a broken collar bone, and multiple broken ribs. Medical staff believe that the child was injured the night before, and then left without treatment until his father discovered him the next morning.

 

According to information released from Kuras’ interview, he claims that Ulp was a very jealous and insecure person, and the attack on the toddler may have resulted from that. According to Kuras, doctors have explained to him that his son was picked up, and then squeezed and shaken.

 

Police say that Ulp offered bizarre explanations for the abuse

 

Eastpointe Police claim that during her interview, Ulp offered a series of strange suggestions for how Nicolas became injured. For example, she suggested that the child had an extremely rare blood disease that no one else in the world had. Later, in court, Ulp told the Judge that she had never intended to hurt Nicolas, and that she loved him like he was her own son.

 

Shortly after the incident took place, a family friend who has known Kuras for some time talked to the media.  The friend, who said she had helped to care for the child after his mother’s untimely death, told media sources that there were warning signs before Nicolas was harmed. She claims that every time Ulp entered the room, Nicolas began to cry.

 

After the verdict was read, Macomb County Circuit Judge Richard Caretti denied the prosecution’s request to revoke Ulp’s bond. As a result, Ulp is free on a $100,000 bond until her scheduled November 1st sentencing.