Home Check Turns Up Damaged Child : Harlem: Housing inspector responds to tenant’s complaint about a wall and finds a battered 4-year-old girl. Family Court had returned her to mother’s custody 15 months ago and left her there despite complaints that she was mistreated.

When housing inspector Raymond Berry went to a Harlem apartment building to check out a tenant’s complaint, he was looking for damaged walls. Instead, he found a damaged child.

During his visit last month, Berry noticed 4-year-old Margarita Seeley, emaciated and covered with burns and bruises, sitting motionless in a bedroom doorway. An older boy in the apartment walked over and hit her in the face.

“I told him, ‘No, no, don’t do that,’ ” said Berry. Then he realized that the girl had shown “absolutely no response. That was the key--there was no movement.” It appeared Margarita was so accustomed to being hurt that she no longer reacted.

As he left the building, Berry thought about going “through the proper channels” at the city housing department the next day--talking to a supervisor, writing up what he’d seen.

But he’d worked 10 years as a police officer in Oakland, Calif., and something told him not to wait. So when he got home, he called 911, and two officers went to the apartment a half-hour later.

“When I first saw the child, I couldn’t believe a baby in New York City could look like that,” Officer Wayne Gordon said.

The girl’s mother, Esperanza Seeley--who had made the complaint that summoned the housing inspector--and her boyfriend were charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Seeley’s other three children were put in foster care.

The Daily News reported that Margarita had been in foster care from the time she was born until 15 months ago, when a Family Court judge returned her to her mother.

She stayed with her mother despite complaints to authorities from the foster mother and Margarita’s aunt, the newspaper said. Marjorie Valleau, a spokeswoman for the Child Welfare Administration, said the case was under investigation.

Three days after her rescue, Berry visited Margarita in the hospital and brought her a large stuffed bear, which she named Omar. She didn’t remember him, but she kissed him after he was introduced as “someone who had helped her,” Berry said.

“She looks great,” he said. “She smiles very easily for somebody that’s been through what she’s been through.”