Baby Anna, almost 8 months old, died while she was being cared for by her childminder. On Monday, 34-year-old Helmond guest parent Anne W. was charged with the baby’s death. She is suspected of having abused Anna so badly that she died. The suspect denies.
The court has allotted three days for this case. The question that must be answered is whether baby Anna died due to severe abuse. That was not clear at first. The cause of death could be suffocation, an epileptic seizure, or something else.
On day one, two medical experts state that baby Anna’s death has no medical cause. “Then one option remains, violence,” the court president thought aloud. But that was too simple, according to the experts.
One expert said the cause of the baby’s brain damage, blood behind the eyes, brain swelling, and bruising on the back of the baby’s head was likely a strong shake or blow. Still, he couldn’t say that with 100 percent certainty. “Other causes are always possible, although they are unlikely. The lack of bone fractures is remarkable. You often see them when violence has been used.”
“There remains room for doubt.”
The other expert left even more room for doubt. “There are many indications that baby Anna was shaken or thrown, or received a hard blow. But because not all parts of the brain have been examined, I cannot rule out another cause. So there is room for doubt.”
It all happened four years ago on August 20, 2019. Childminder Anne babysat twins who are almost 8 months old and their 2-year-old sister that day. That day, the emergency services received a report after noon that a baby was no longer breathing.
According to childminder Anne, nothing strange had happened that morning. “Anna was a bit different than usual and made more noises. I thought she had made a jump,” she said during the session. Anna also had trouble sleeping. “That was not unusual either. I gave her another bottle to calm down. It was strange that she had trouble holding her bottle,” she said.
Eventually, baby Anna fell asleep. When that sleep took a very long time, the childminder wanted to wake her up so as not to disturb the baby’s rhythm too much. “She didn’t react, she was cramped and she was limp. Her skin was gray and something like blood seemed to come out of her mouth,” says childminder Anne emotionally.
“I held her upside down and patted her back.”
She immediately started CPR. “But it seemed like there was a block in the way. I turned her upside down and patted her back.” While resuscitating, she went down the stairs with Anna and called in the neighbor. He eventually called 112. The baby was taken to the hospital and died a day later.
Initially, the childminder was a witness in this case. That changed after months of a more extensive investigation showed that there was a good chance that Anna had died due to excessive force. It may have been shaken baby syndrome.
The Helmondse had to stop her shelter pending this lawsuit. Only baby Anna’s father was at the hearing. Her mother is in Poland where she originally comes from. She couldn’t handle the confrontation in court.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the lawyer explains why the childminder is innocent, because there could be various health reasons why baby Anna died. Then follows the sentence of the Public Prosecution Service. The childminder is guilty of the death of baby Anna for the judiciary.