Baby beaten to death

A MAYARO MAN yesterday allegedly confessed to police that he beat an 18-month-old baby girl to death because the child did not want to urinate.

For the last two days the man, aged 29, and a 23-year-old woman, were in police custody since they were giving the police conflicting accounts on how the child met her death. Yesterday, the man allegedly confessed that the infant died at his hands on Thursday night. The woman was released late yesterday afternoon. The man said he became infuriated when the baby wet the bed, but before the confession, the couple told other tales. Investigators’ suspected that all was not normal when the couple came to report the baby’s death around 3 pm on Friday even though they found the baby dead early that morning. 

Sunday Newsday was told that the child was found with several marks of violence about her tiny body. The baby girl, sources said, was found with open wounds resembling bite marks on both cheeks, burn impressions on her buttocks, as well as welts which could have been made with a piece of wood. The baby’s body was discovered at a house on Church Street, Mayaro. Initially, the couple gave police different stories during the hours leading up to the child’s death. One version which the woman gave to investigators was that on Thursday night she and a man were cooking on an outdoor fireside when the infant fell from a height into the fire. The woman said she rescued her, gave her a bath, and put her to sleep. The woman explained to police that when she awoke the next morning (Friday), she found the baby dead in her crib.

But upon further interrogation, the woman reportedly revealed that the man, who was not usually abusive, beat the infant girl in the outdoor bathroom. Police said that the mother said that the man was forcing the baby to urinate even though the child did not want to. The woman reportedly told investigators that she looked on helplessly as she witnessed the man dealing several severe blows about the child’s tiny body, and biting the baby’s cheeks. She said she tried to revive the child, who seemed faint and almost unconscious, by bathing her. The woman told police she put the baby to bed, but by morning, she was dead. 

Police visited the scene on Friday together with District Medical Officer Dr Rampaul, who ordered the baby’s body removed to the Sangre Grande Mortuary. An autopsy is expected to be performed tomorrow at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Visiting the scene were Inspector Fitzgerald George, WP Sgt Brebnor, and Cpls Bebe, and Garcia.