WATCH: Toms River Woman Testifies She Was Trying To Stop Baby From Choking

By Karen Wall

The Toms River woman accused of killing the baby she had been entrusted to babysit testified Tuesday that the boy suffered his injuries as she tried to save him from choking on applesauce, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press.

The APP supplied a video of her testimony at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold (see below).

According to the video:

Michelle Heale, 46, demonstrated how she hit the boy between the shoulder blades to dislodge applesauce from the throat of 14-month-old Mason Hess as she babysat him in her Toms River home on Aug. 28, 2012.

“I thought he would be a little scared and crying,’’ Heale said.

But that’s not what she said she observed when she put the baby down on the floor of her family room.

“His head snapped back fast,’’ she said. “…Like a ragdoll, he went completely limp. I threw him back over my shoulder and I ran down my hallway to call 911.’’

Heale, 46, said she checked Mason’s mouth with her fingers to see if there still was food lodged in his throat, and there wasn’t any. Then, she said she checked for a heartbeat and, finding the baby had one, she chose not to perform chest compressions and waited for help to arrive.

While Heale described her actions as a frantic attempt to save Mason’s life, prosecutors allege what she did was shake the baby so violently that she broke his neck and caused brain injuries and hemorrhaging to which he would succumb four days later, while at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Heale has been on trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia since March 17 in the boy’s death. The trial was moved to Monmouth County because Heale’s husband, Michael Heale, and the baby’s father, Adam Hess, both worked as investigators at the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Heales have twins, a boy and a girl who were almost 4 years old at the time of Mason’s death, and were friends with Kelly and Adam Heale prior to Mason’s death.

Check out the video of Heale’s testimony, below.