Parents remanded following death of their infant girl (Updated)

Authorities on Thursday said they were investigating the possibility of abuse of a couple’s second child after they were remanded on suspicion of forcefully shaking their two-month baby leading to her death.

Social welfare services were monitoring the family since January last year, after a report was made regarding violence in the family, head of Limassol CID Lefteris Kyriakou told the media.

“All possibilities are being examined, in cooperation with the social welfare services,” he said.

The parents, a 22-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man, were remanded for eight days on Thursday by the district court in Limassol 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 couple appeared before the court without a lawyer.

The infant died early morning 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.

The baby did not carry any visible injuries, police added.

But 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.

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

They deny ever hitting or shaking the baby.

Based on the autopsy findings, the infant’s severe head injuries could not have been sustained from an accident.

They also established malicious traumatic brain injury after violent shaking and possibly hitting a blunt surface.

No signs of resuscitation appear to have been found.