Baby punched in head during parents’ brawl

Mar 30, 2015 News

– nursing fractured skull at GPHC

An official from the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating a case where a seven-month-old baby girl sustained a fractured skull after being punched in the head by her father, a punch that was intended for her mother.

The infant, Reshma

The infant has been identified as Reshma Deodat of Lot 222 Ordnance Fort Land, Corentyne.
Little Reshma allegedly sustained her injuries late last year when she was only two months old.
She is currently a patient in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Paediatric Ward.
Her father was arrested when the incident was reported but was subsequently released.
The baby’s grandmother, Bibi Shakira Alrasheed in an interview with this newspaper two days ago has confirmed that the child underwent four surgeries so far and still has to undergo another to drain excess fluid from the brain.
Since the tragedy, little Reshma has been spending her time in and out of the aforementioned hospital.
According to information received, the baby’s mother was feeding her when the father approached and started punching the infant’s mother.
During the incident, the baby was punched to the head.
She was taken to the hospital almost a week after she sustained her injuries and this was only after her body started turning blue and getting stiff.
The grandmother explained that the infant was living in a “very” unstable home with her abusive parents.
She said that when Reshma was born, she pleaded with her daughter to stay with her since it was her first child and she knew nothing about caring for the newborn.
“I begged my daughter to stay by me but she and her husband were determined to take the child by them,” the grandmother said.
She told this newspaper that her daughter gave different versions of how the child sustained her injuries and it was as if she was trying to cover up.
“Two months later, while she was taking the baby to clinic, she passed by me and I see the baby head swell up and her eyes and face black and blue. When I asked, she said the baby fall off the bed so I tell her the baby too small to move around, then she said that she was feeding her and she (Reshma) fell out of her hands.”
According to Alrasheed, after interrogating her daughter, she admitted that her husband was beating her and mistakenly punched the baby in the head.
The woman said that she advised her young daughter to take the baby to the hospital but she refused, fearing her husband would get into trouble with the law.
“They only take the baby to the hospital when she started getting fever and her body started to get blue and stiff,” the grandmother related. It was while at the hospital, Alrasheed said, they were informed that the baby’s skull was fractured and needed urgent surgery.
“The doctor said that she (infant) had leakage in her brain and the surgeries they have done so far was to remove the fluid,” the grandmother related.
The woman added, “I am taking care of the baby now. She would spend a few days in the hospital and then they would discharge her. She is still being treated for the fractured skull.”
Kaieteur News was told that while the seven-month-old is nursing her injuries, her mother is pregnant with her second child.