Father of dead baby admits shaking her – reports

A 37-year-old man remanded earlier in the week on suspicion of forcefully shaking his two-month baby, leading to her death, has reportedly admitted to doing so, according to local media.

He and the infant’s mother, a 22-year-old woman, were remanded for eight days on Thursday by Limassol district court in connection with a case of manslaughter after the autopsy on the body of their two-and-a-half-month baby showed signs of abuse.

The infant died last Saturday at the ICU of the Limassol hospital where she was taken by the parents who alleged the baby was convulsing while sleeping on Friday night.

A source told Phileleftheros that during new interrogations, the father said that on March 2 he attempted to stop the baby from crying, as he had just returned from work and was exhausted.

Going against his and the mother’s previous claims that they never hit or shook the baby, he reportedly confessed to violently shaking her, after which she stopped crying, leading him to believe he had not harmed her.

He also claimed that the mother was not there at the time.

An autopsy by state pathologists Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou showed the infant had died from severe head injuries, with the pathologists also referring to signs of abuse.

According to evidence heard in court, the parents testified the baby lost consciousness on the way to Limassol hospital on Saturday and the mother tried to resuscitate her. Based on the autopsy findings, the infant’s severe head injuries could not have been sustained from an accident.

The parents also testified the girl was born prematurely, at seven months on December 20 and remained in an incubator for a month.