Baby was beaten to death

POLICE investigating the death of two-year-old Karina Roberts now believe the child may have been beaten to death. The officers came to this conclusion, after an autopsy performed by pathologist Dr Hughvon De Vignes at the Forensic Sciences Centre yesterday revealed the child died from multiple blunt trauma injuries and a ruptured liver. Police sources told Newsday the injuries were inconsistent with a fall and was treating the matter as a murder investigation.

Officers of the Couva CID and Homicide Bureau continued questioning a 19-year-old male relative up to late yesterday. Tomorrow, police plan on sending the file to Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, who will decide what charges should be laid. The relative told police he was throwing the infant in the air and catching her, when he missed and she fell face down on the concrete floor. However, when he took the  child to the Couva District Hospital last Thursday morning, he told doctors she had a fever, which was causing her to vomit. 

The infant was treated and discharged. Shortly after she returned home, the infant again complained of feeling unwell. An EHS ambulance rushed her to the Couva Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Karina had been left in the care of the relative by her mother, Shemila, 19, who went to work that morning. Sgt Lumy of the Couva CID is spearheading investigations.