Haute-Corse: 15 years of imprisonment for the father of a baby who died in 2021, 5 years including 2 years for the mother

The Haute-Corse Assize Court on Friday sentenced the parents of a four and a half month old baby who died in January 2021, with the father receiving 15 years of criminal imprisonment for violence leading to death without intention of causing it. The mother was sentenced to five years in prison, including two years, for not having reported the facts. The father was also convicted of intentional violence committed against their son for several weeks before his death.

Photos sent to investigators by the grandmother after the baby's death, showing bruises on the victim's face and body between October 2020 and January 2021, were played at the trial. The death of the infant was noted on January 29, 2021 in Nice. Transferred to intensive care at the city's pediatric hospital, he presented with an intracranial hemorrhage with massive cerebral edema. All medical experts agree that these injuries are the result of “non-accidental human intervention”.

The dating of the violence highlighted by an expert corresponds to a moment when the father was alone with his son in the couple's home located in Calenzana (Haute-Corse). Two reports mention an episode of shaking of the baby while a second medical opinion mentions a cranial shock. The 36-year-old man denied the facts while his lawyer pleaded for acquittal: “I loved my son, I always did what I could,” he declared during his last words to the jurors.

The mother's defense also requested acquittal. The court decided that the fixed part of his sentence should be carried out without waiting for a possible appeal. The attorney general, who had requested 15 years of imprisonment for the father and 5 years of prison for the mother, had stressed at the hearing that “all the elements and expert opinions will convince you of the guilt of Loïc J. for the acts of violence”. “Manon S. knew what was happening and she didn’t say anything,” she also said.

They were free during the trial which started on Monday. They were released in 2021 after 23 days of pre-trial detention, following a procedural flaw and an administrative error by the Bastia Court of Appeal.