Local Court News, (Central Nebraska Today)
HASTINGS — An eight-day jury trial has been scheduled in the case of a Hastings in-home daycare provider who has been charged with negligent child abuse in Adams County District Court.
Jade Essink, 23, has been charged with committing negligent child abuse resulting in injury, a Class 3A felony. Essink has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A pre-trial hearing was held on Jan. 14, where the date for all pre-trial motions was set for Feb. 28, the deadline for jury instructions was April 20 and the jury trial was scheduled for May 26 through June 5 at 9 a.m. each day.
An arrest warrant was issued for Essink following a month-long investigation by the Hastings Police Department. A child was severely injured in Essink’s care following an incident in December 2024.
According to an affidavit submitted to Adams County Court, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, a 10-month-old boy was life flighted from Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings to the Children’s Hospital in Omaha due to a severe head injury which was sustained at the minor’s daycare provider on W. 9th St.
It had been reported that the minor had collided with another child and fell into the stone fireplace.
On Dec. 11, Hastings Police Department investigators spoke with a doctor at Marry Lanning Healthcare who said they were “one-hundred percent sure,” that the injuries sustained by the minor were due to child abuse, the affidavit stated.
Essink was later questioned at the Hastings Police Department, who stated that she was just coming into the room when the minor was pulling themselves up off the floor after running into another three-year-old child and fell into the fireplace stonework and the floor.
Investigators spoke with doctors from Children’s Hospital who said the minor had fractures on both sides of his skull that required him to have two surgeries.
They said the injuries were not consistent with just a fall and bump on the head; the pattern of bruising as well as the severity of the injury was not consistent with Essink’s explanation, according to the affidavit.
On Dec. 12, another doctor said the severity of the injury could have occurred from a shake or slam that occurred multiple times.
Given this information, the Hastings Police Department sought for an arrest warrant to be issued for Essink for child abuse.
Essink was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 23 and booked into the Adams County Jail.
