Father pleads guilty in infant death, mother not prosecuted

The attorney-general suspended the prosecution of a 29-year-old woman who was a suspect in the death last year of her three-month old baby. Her husband, 29, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The baby boy died on February 2018, four days after his father rushed him to Paphos general hospital in a comatose state. He was transferred to Makarios children’s hospital in Nicosia where a head scan showed brain injury and an epidural hematoma.

Both parents were treated as suspects in the baby’s death and were charged with causing death through a careless act. The father was also charged with manslaughter. He reportedly hit the baby because he was disturbed by his crying.

The attorney-general has suspended the prosecution of the mother this week. The couple have two more children.

The parents had said their son sustained the injuries by falling from a couch but they were arrested after a post-mortem revealed that the severity of his injuries was not consistent with a fall from a 70cm-high sofa. According to the pathologists in charge of the case, such injuries can only be caused by a fall from a greater height.

The infant’s father had testified that he was at home when he heard a noise and found the baby had fallen off the sofa onto the floor. In a second statement he said the baby fell from his arms while holding it when he went down a metal staircase in his home. The 29-year-old said he was afraid to initially mention something to the investigating authorities fearing that they would lose custody of his other children.

The mother said that her partner was violent and aggressive and had shaken the three-month-old infant several times and thrown him violently into his cot. She also said he sometimes did not want the baby around because the infant bothered him when he played video games.

The Paphos Criminal Court will adjourn on May 16 for the mitigation hearing. Until then, the 29-year-old will remain in custody at the central prisons.