Family members of the bereaved parents have claimed the parents of the six-year-old accused of killing a newborn were asked twice to keep an eye on him at the Lille hospital
The mum of a six-year-old boy accused of killing a baby in a hospital had twice been warned to keep an eye on him, the family of the dead tot have claimed.
Zayneb-Cassandra was just five days old when she was found lying unresponsive on the floor next to her cot at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children’s hospital in Lille, northern France, having suffered a suspected traumatic brain brain injury.
A criminal inquiry into her death has been launched exploring whether the baby, who was born premature to a 23-year-old mum named Sephora, was killed when she was allegedly dropped by a six-year-old who was “left to roam around a maternity unit”. The family of the newborn has claimed they warned the accused child’s mum of his “abnormal behaviour”.
A woman named Karima, who said she is the cousin of baby Zyneb’s bereaved father Mohamed-Hamza, said staff at Jeanne-de-Flandre were “warned” of the boy’s behaviour before he was found standing on a chair next to her cot.
She further claimed that the baby’s grandfather had spoken to the young boy’s mother – who was in the maternity ward – twice, asking her to keep an eye on her son.
She alleged that the boy had fixated on the young girl, calling her “my doll”, and added that she believed he may have touched her unsupervised a day before she fell.
She said the baby had been found disconnected from electrodes and “suffering from hypothermia” the day prior. She said: “The day before, Zayneb had already been found without a diaper or electrodes, wet and suffering from hypothermia.”
The baby was resuscitated twice before she died last week, with investigators from the Lille prosecutor’s office later confirming the cause of death was likely “a fall to the floor”.
They added in a statement that a “six-year-old child” was “seen near the crib and the child on the floor” as was “a member of another family”.
Zayneb-Cassandra’s grandmother had previously told the Voix du Nord newspaper the boy would “spend all day running up and down the hallways” at the maternity unit after arriving at 7am each day.
Eventually, she added, “all the mothers” would start complaining, with the nan adding that a nurse had also warned the child’s mother “there was a problem” after he started “entering the other rooms”. She added: “He also entered Zayneb’s room for the first time. He said she looked like a doll, and my husband, who was there, took him out.”
When the baby died, she said citing another family, a “loud bang” could be heard from the hallway, with people rushing in to find the boy next to the cot on a chair.