Baby shaken in Gard: father previously unknown to justice sentenced to fifteen months in prison

Après les faits, le mis en cause avait été placé en détention provisoire. C.R. – Midi Libre

In May 2020, little Ryane, 3 months old, was taken to the Nîmes University Hospital for a subdural hematoma. Her parents, and then only her father, were accused of violence.

Born prematurely in the spring of 2020, the twins of the man previously unknown to the courts who appeared free at the Nîmes criminal court on Tuesday, September 3, are lightweights. Ryane, the most fragile, also suffers from a heart condition detected at birth.

It was around 3 p.m. on that day in May 2020, when this man and his partner, mother of the two little girls (and a third little girl just one year old), rushed to the hospital in Nîmes in a panic.

The very little Rayane against him, the accused had then explained to the doctors that the baby had cried a lot that very morning. Fed and changed, the child allegedly “suddenly contracted, before falling back unconscious in her arms“, while their mother had been in another room of the house for several minutes at that moment.

Subdural hematoma

But for the doctors on duty, who quickly gave her a scan, tiny Ryane was suffering from a subdural hematoma. That is to say, an intracranial effusion of blood, in this case “without impact”. and compatible, according to them, with the dreaded phenomenon known as the “shaken baby”.

Arrested in September 2020, placed in pre-trial detention in the process, the father of the little girl, described as violent by his partner, had since then been prosecuted for regular violence against her, Ryane, but also against his two other daughters.

But it was ultimately for an isolated act of aggravated violence that he appeared free this Tuesday, September 3 before the court correctionnel.

Two years requested by the prosecutor

During the hearing, the thirty-year-old from Nîmes, a waterproofer in the building trade, cried a lot. Questioned by the president, Ryane's father, who was appearing before a court for the very first time,, denied outright having shaken his barely 3-month-old daughter.

Placed under judicial supervision after 4 months of pre-trial detention in this case, the defendant was specifically to answer here for "violence on a minor resulting in an ITT exceeding 8 days by a person in authority". He ended up admitting to possibly having taken the little girl "abruptly" in his arms in a panic. Without having wanted to inflict his very serious injuries.

At the end of the day, the accused, defended by Mr. Gloriès and whose partner is now untraceable and was absent from the hearing, was sentenced to fifteen months in prison. Having already served four months of pretrial detention in this case, he will serve the remainder of his sentence (11 months) in a fully adapted manner, in this case equipped with an electronic home monitoring device.

I subscribe to read the rest