Cape Coral mother comes face to face in court with woman responsible for son’s drowning

The mother whose son died in a daycare pool wants the woman responsible for his death to pay the price for it.

Christina Mitchell came face to face again with Melissa Smith in court Monday. Smith was found guilty of culpable negligence back in 2014 after 2-year-old Christian Byrd drowned under Smith’s supervision.

“If I was responsible for the death of a child, I would never in a million years try and terminate my probation. The slap on the wrist that was given, she tried to terminate that today,” Mitchell said.

After serving eight months behind bars, Smith was given five years of probation. But on Monday, she asked the judge to end her probation early.

“I’m inclined to denying the request and it doesn’t have anything to do with how you’ve been doing on probation Miss Smith,” the judge responded in court.

“The fact that I even came back to this court today shows the lack of remorse she actually had,” Mitchell said.

It also added more fuel to the fire—Smith had a surprise tattooed on her leg.

“How dare you sit here and show the blatant disrespect for putting my son’s name on your leg,” Mitchell said.

But Mitchell and her family say justice is ultimately being served.

She adds that it’s important for parents to know the difference between a licensed and regular daycare. Mitchell also started an organization called “Grow Big Like Trees” to help other parents heal when they unexpectedly lose a child.

To learn more about the organization’s efforts, click here.