Father Arrested Over Death Of 10-Month-Old Daughter

A young father has been detained suspected of hitting his 10-month-old baby girl who later died in hospital after suffering a cranial collapse.

According to local newspaper El Periodico Mediterraneo, the events took place at the family home in a house located in Almassora, a municipality in the Valencia region in eastern Spain on Sunday morning (13th September).

The case was uncovered when the girl was taken to a health centre by her parents after being hurt and she was transferred to a hospital.

Paediatricians at the hospital sounded the alarm because the very serious injury did not match up with one that would have been sustained in an accident and there was already a file mentioning potential previous mistreatments.

According to the investigation opened by the Castello Civil Guard Command, the father, is suspected of having hit the girl with force against the bars of the crib because she was crying, as estimated by the pediatricians who attended the case.

Doctors at the emergencies department of the General Hospital of Castello reported bruising on her body that they believe was inflicted over the course of months.

The parents are reported in local media as having claimed that the child had fallen headfirst out of the crib, which the doctors did not believe, since the force of the impact showed an external blow allegedly impossible to sustain as a result of a simple fall, given the weight of the baby and the height of the crib.

They immediately alerted the authorities and multiple Civil Guard officers went to the health centre. The father, Antonio Jose, 20, and the mother, Laura, 17, were both immediately arrested on attempted murder charges.

The father was remanded in custody pending trial, without bail. The authorities have opened an investigation for attempted homicide. The mother has been admitted to a juvenile centre.

The girl underwent emergency surgery, but the injuries were irreversible, so the doctors had no hope that she could survive the brutal attack, which caused her cranial collapse.

That same afternoon, the Castello Judicial Police and forensics officers went to the couple’s home and carried out an exhaustive visual inspection that included taking samples from the bars of the baby’s crib to confirm that this was the object against which the young girl was hit.

The investigation is ongoing.