The heartbroken parents of a 22-month-old boy killed by fentanyl exposure at a Bronx daycare declared “justice is revenge” Wednesday, as the couple responsible for their son’s tragic death was sentenced to decades behind bars.
“This is the worst thing that could’ve happened to us,” mom Zoila Dominici said of the fatal poisoning of her son, Nicholas, in September 2023. “You should never come out of jail, ever.”
Daycare operator Grei Mendez and her drug dealing husband Felix Herrera Garcia were sentenced to 25 years to life on second degree murder and assault charges in Bronx County Court — which they’ll serve concurrently with a 45-year federal prison sentence on drug charges, handed down in November.
Jurors previously found that the couple showed “depraved indifference” by hiding fentanyl under the floor boards of Kingsbridge’s Divino Niño Daycare where the tots took naps.
“Nicholas deserves justice because Nicholas is not coming back ever,” Dominici told the court as she broke down in tears. “I just hope for the day I die to see him again.”
She and her family now have to celebrate the boy’s birthday “at the cemetery” while he lives on only in their imaginations, she said.
“Only you know the last moment of my son‘s life,” she said in court, addressing Mendez. “That must have been horrible for him.”
The child’s devastated dad, Otoniel Feliz, declared in court, “I know that 45 years in federal court is a lot [but] the average number for Nicholas to come back is zero.”
“Justice is revenge,” he said.
Before the sentencing, Judge Margaret Clancy said that calling Nicholas’ death “a tragedy is a severe understatement.”
“It defies understanding that these defendants, parents themselves, could begin and continue their fentanyl and drug operation while at the same time seeking licenses from the city,” Clancy said.
Garcia, meanwhile, apologized and asked for forgiveness.
“I would like to say I am sorry to the victim’s family and also to my family,” he said. “Everyday when I speak to God, I tell him that he should have taken me and not Nicholas.”
Three other children were also poisoned during the nightmarish ordeal — including a 2-year-old boy who was rushed to the hospital and nearly died after being revived with the opioid overdose drug Narcan, authorities said at the time.
In court Wednesday, Dominici wore a T- shirt with a photo of her sweet-faced baby boy and the date of his death.
“Beloved son, you are always in our hearts,” it proclaimed.