Father faces manslaughter charges over baby’s death

A 37-year-old man who reportedly admitted to forcefully shaking his two-month-old baby resulting in her death will stand trial for manslaughter on April 14, while the mother of the infant was released from police custody on Friday.

The baby’s father will remain in police custody pending trial at Limassol criminal court on April 14.

He and the infant’s mother aged 22, had been remanded for eight days on Thursday by Limassol district court in connection with the case.

Initially, both parents had claimed they had never hit or shaken the baby.

However, according to media reports when questioned again, the father admitted he had shaken the baby in his attempt to stop her from crying on Wednesday, March 2, as he had just returned from work and was exhausted.

After that, she stopped crying, he said, which led him to believe he had not harmed her.

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

The infant died last Saturday in Makarios hospital in Nicosia where she was transferred after she was taken to the ICU of Limassol hospital by the parents who alleged the baby was convulsing while sleeping on Friday night.

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.