WILMINGTON — A Superior Court has sentenced a New Castle woman to life in prison for the repeated abuse and murder of a child, and the abuse of four other children in her care at a daycare facility where she was employed, the Delaware Department of Justice announced Friday.

Dejoynay Ferguson pleaded guilty in April to first-degree murder by abuse, six counts of first-degree child abuse and two counts of second-degree child abuse.

“These are the crimes that make us hold our kids tighter,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “This was among the most chilling and emotionally challenging cases that the DOJ has prosecuted in my career. Today we have held the perpetrator of these heinous crimes accountable and closed this chapter of a horrific and senseless tragedy.

“Dejoynay Ferguson will be in prison for the rest of her life. But I know that the road ahead is still long for the survivors and the victims’ families, who have suffered unfathomable anguish. All of us continue to hold them in our hearts.”