Newborn ‘Killed By Six-Year-Old Who Wandered’ French Maternity Ward

The cause of death of the baby killed after being allegedly dropped by a six-year-old who was left to roam a French maternity ward has been revealed.

Five-day-old Baby Zayneb-Cassandra was discovered lying unresponsive on the floor beside her crib with a traumatic brain injury at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children’s Hospital in the northern city of Lille, France, on Friday, July 11 and succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday.

Lille’s prosecutor’s office on Friday confirmed that the baby died from trauma ‘consistent with a fall to the floor’.

A boy who was discovered standing on a chair beside her is thought to have plucked the tiny baby from her crib and dropped her on the floor, although her official cause of death had not been revealed.

‘A six-year-old child, a member of another family, was indeed seen near the crib and the child on the floor,’ prosecutors also confirmed. 

The six-year-old youngster was allegedly allowed to wander the wards alone, and witnesses have said that police have opened a criminal investigation into the atrocity that occurred at the Rainbow ward last week.

The boy and the newborn were found by Delphine, a young woman who had just given birth herself, who ran into the room after hearing what she described as a ‘loud bang’.

Baby Zayneb, who was delivered six weeks early by caesarean to parents Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora, was resuscitated twice before she died this week after spending the weekend on life support.

The youngster in issue had been unruly for days and was not being watched over because his mother was still recuperating after giving birth, Delphine subsequently told Le Parisien.

‘He was running around everywhere and had already touched a baby in a stroller,’ Delphine said.

Meanwhile, Karima, a cousin of Zayneb’s grieving father, claimed that hospital staff had been ‘warned’ of the boy’s ‘abnormal behaviour’. 

She also alleged that the boy had fixated on Zayneb, calling her ‘my doll’, and had likely touched her unsupervised a day prior to her fall.

‘The day before, Zayneb had already been found without a diaper or electrodes, wet and suffering from hypothermia,’ Karima claimed.

Now, questions are mounting as to how the boy was able to acquire access to Zayneb’s crib in the neonatal unit alone, despite being reported as a ‘disruptive presence’ in the hospital.

Karima explained how the boy was running riot in the halls for days after being dropped off at the hospital each morning by his father.

‘The father would drop him off in the ward from 7 am to 8 pm,’ she said.

Zayneb’s grandmother, Fatma, told the Voix du Nord newspaper: ‘The boy would arrive at 7 am 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.’

‘It seems he tried to grab her by her nappy, and she fell on her head,’ Fatma concluded.

‘My family is destroyed… My daughter is devastated. Coming home without her baby is inconceivable.’

Zayneb’s distraught father, Mohamed-Hamza, told Le Parisien he doesn’t blame the boy who allegedly caused his daughter’s life-ending injuries, but hit out at the hospital for their lack of care.

‘Every six-year-old is a little disruptive. I don’t blame the mother; she had just given birth… But the child should have been supervised,’ the 23-year-old said.

Fatma added that she had to push medical staff to arrange psychological support for her inconsolable daughter-in-law after she was informed her child had died.

Together with local prosecutors, the Lille Judicial Police Service’s youth unit launched a criminal inquiry into the incident this week.

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

A spokesperson said: ‘This human tragedy has deeply affected the staff and teams of Lille University Children’s Hospital, as well as the other families present.’

A separate statement delivered to the French press acknowledged ‘a particularly serious and upsetting exceptional event, unrelated to care’.

‘The thoughts of the University Hospital professionals are first and foremost with the young victim, her family, and her loved ones,’ it read.

The hospital also added that ‘measures to strictly limit visits to the neonatal units of the Lille University Hospital have been taken as a precautionary measure’.

Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora have not yet filed an official complaint, but dismissed the statement.

‘It won’t bring my daughter back… But we’re waiting for answers. There was a breach, and I’m going to fight to identify those responsible.

‘Justice will do its job,’ he told Le Parisien.

The boy’s father had no business dropping him off at the hospital to fend for himself all day, and why on earth did the staff at the hospital allow the situation to continue when it was brought to their attention? It’s the hospital’s responsibility to keep patients and newborns safe.

The child’s father had no right to drop him off at the hospital, and both parents bear responsibility for their failure to give their child the proper care. It’s not the hospital’s job to raise their child; the father most likely had no other option but to go to work.

The hospital should have made it clear that this was inappropriate and would not be allowed.

This should never have been allowed. The hospital is not a babysitter, and siblings should only be allowed during visiting hours with a responsible adult, and then they should leave with that adult.

And why was this child not in school?

Maternelle (Nursery School): Children begin attending maternelle at age 3, and it’s generally considered the start of formal schooling, though it’s not strictly compulsory until age 6. 

We know what was going on here. Men of this ideology don’t believe that childcare is their responsibility. These men only think of themselves and what they want.

Regarding the boy’s parents and the hospital’s behaviour, serious concerns must be addressed.

The father of the newborn is a lot more forgiving than I would have been, so kudos to him. His wife must be inconsolable. What a terrible loss for all the family.