Nanny Yoselyn Ortega fit to stand trial for Krim child murders

A nanny accused of killing two young children in her care has been examined by psychiatrists who found she was fit to stand trial.

Yoselyn Ortega has pleaded not guilty to murdering Lucia Krim, 6, and her brother, Leo, 2, in their Upper West side apartment on October 25 last year.

The 50-year-old appeared in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan Friday, handcuffed and wearing a prison issue tan jumpsuit with her hair in braids, the New York Times reported.

Justice Gregory Carro told the court two state psychiatrists had interviewed Ortega a number of times, and reviewed her “rather voluminous” medical records.

"Both psychiatrist find the defendant can in a meaningful way assist in her own defense and have found her fit to proceed to trial," said Justice Carro, the New York Daily News reported.

Her defense attorney said his client intends to challenge the finding. 

Ortega, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is being held without bail at the prison ward for psychiatric patients at Elmhurst Hospital Center in the borough of Queens, BBC News reported.

If convicted she faces life in prison. She will appear in court on May 6.