The infant suffered shaken baby syndrome and was five months old at admission
Doctors from the Institute of Legal Medicine in Las Palmas examined a five month old baby admitted in April 2019 to the Insular Hospital with severe brain injuries. They concluded the case involved shaken baby syndrome. In court the doctors explained that injuries in several parts of the body indicated a strong shake was the cause, one that required significant force. The child became tetraplegic, lost the ability to speak, and five years later moves only in a wheelchair.
The prosecutor asked for three years in prison for Angel Moises P. R., the baby’s caregiver on the day of the events. The private prosecution, led by attorney Jose Luis Mayor, increased the request to twelve years, arguing the injuries were aggravated against a minor aged fourteen. The defense lawyer, Adrián Ruano, asked for acquittal, arguing there is only conjecture about who caused the injuries to the baby.
The first to testify was the accused himself, a neighbor from Puerto del Rosario who knew the child’s mother because they were part of a church music group and had become friends. After Ángel Moisés lost his job, to avoid him returning to Madrid, the mother offered him a part time babysitting job. He cared for the child for a month and a half while she was at work.
The child lost his speech and, five years later, can only move in a wheelchair
He testified that he felt calm during a visit; he claimed that on some days the child refused to eat. He said he had noticed possible mistreatment because of bruises on the legs and arms, a faint bloodstain in one eye, and a blue tongue. The judge dismissed this theory when custody was returned to the mother after finding no signs of domestic abuse. The mother explained that what the accused saw as bruising were birthmarks.
The accused says that on April 27, 2019, when handed the baby at about six in the morning, the child seemed sleepy but he thought it normal. He gave half a bottle at nine, and at noon when he tried the second bottle the baby refused. He says nothing unusual happened until three in the afternoon, when the mother arrived to pick him up and the baby collapsed in his arms, pale with a cold body. He called the church pastor who lived above, and prayed for two minutes before calling an ambulance: “We prayed for two minutes because our faith is strong.”
No prior incidents
The mother testified that she raised the child alone and, lacking a paternal figure, believed Ángel Moisés P. R. would be a good option to supervise him. During that month and a half he helped, she saw nothing alarming; they spoke via video calls and she received daily photos of her son, except on the day of the incident.
“We prayed for the child for two minutes because we have faith in God”
A witness described seeing the accused arrive with the baby in his arms and say the child looked pale. She explained that the child appeared white with grayish tones on the face, and later it was explained that the cause was a lack of oxygen. The child had trouble focusing and did not respond well to prompts. The examiners could not fix a precise moment for the shaking, though they maintained it occurred within hours, not more than a day. The trial was seen for sentence.