Boy, 6, allegedly kills newborn baby in hospital, treated her ‘like a doll’

A criminal investigation has been initiated in France after a six year old boy, allegedly left to wander around a maternity unit, is said to have caused the death of a newborn baby.

The infant, named Zayneb-Cassandra, born prematurely to a 23 year-old woman earlier this month, sustained a severe brain injury last Friday when the boy reportedly “treated her like a doll” and dropped her on the floor at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children’s Hospital in Lille.

The young boy had already been flagged as a ‘disruptive presence’ in the hospital when he was discovered alone with the unconscious baby in a neonatal unit.

The baby was her mother’s first child, delivered via caesarean section, according to an investigative source.

“The delivery went very well, but the little girl was premature, so she was taken to a neonatal unit, while her mother remained in a maternity ward,” they added, reports the Mirror.

The ‘disruptive six year old’ – the son of another mother who was in a maternity ward – was seen roaming the hospital unattended.

Zayneb-Cassandra’s grandmother told the Voix du Nord newspaper: “The boy would arrive at 7am and spend all day running up and down the hallways.

“All the mothers were complaining, and a nurse even warned the child’s mother that there was a problem. He was entering the other rooms. He also entered Zayneb’s room for the first time. He said she looked like a doll, and my husband, who was there, took him out.”

Last Friday, as Zayneb’s mother was signing discharge papers, the family received an urgent call from a ward manager. They were told to come immediately as “a little boy had been playing with the baby, who had fallen”.

According to the family, and corroborated by another mother in a neighbouring room, ‘a loud bang’ was heard when the baby’s head hit the floor.

Zayneb was discovered unresponsive on the floor, next to the six year old boy who was seated on a chair. “It seems he tried to grab her by her nappy, and she fell on her head,” Zayneb’s grandmother explained.

The infant was quickly taken to intensive care, but tragically, she was declared dead on Tuesday, having suffered ‘a serious brain injury’.

The juvenile unit of the Lille Judicial Police Service has opened an investigation into the incident.

“Investigations are currently underway in this case”, a spokesman for Lille prosecutors confirmed.

The hospital also announced the commencement of ‘an internal administrative investigation’.

A spokesman expressed: “This human tragedy has deeply affected the staff and teams of Lille University Children’s Hospital, as well as the other families present.”