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Couple awarded $9M after toddler drowning

BUFORD, Ga.,None — A family will be given more than $9 million after the drowning of their toddler. A Gwinnett County jury ruled against a pair who ran a day care where the child died.

The jury ruled Thursday that parents Kemi Green and Gbolohan Bankomeloh will receive $9.8 million in damages, plus $50,000 for pain and suffering. The couple left their son, Abiola, at an unlicensed day care run out of a Buford home when he died in March 2009.

Lawyers for the couple said they interviewed Shawn and Tanya Moon, who ran the day care out of Shawn Moon’s father’s property, and were told the day care was state-regulated, but it was not. Abiola, almost 2-years-old at the time, was left unattended and he fell into an unsecured pool on the Buford property.

In addition to the money awarded in the civil case, Tanya Moon is facing criminal charges.