Investigation Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Orléans
An alert from the Clocheville pediatric hospital, in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), reaches the Montbazon gendarmerie, on November 5, 2024. The day before, doctors diagnosed a subdural hematoma in a 3-month-old baby, suggesting the possibility of “violence by one or more third parties”. However, a previous report was made on September 23, when the child was only a few weeks old.
The father was arrested and taken into custody by the military on November 5. A garbage collector for eight years, the 28-year-old man works in the afternoon and takes care of his son in the morning in Esvres-sur-Indre. On November 4, his wife leaves for work. He gives his son a bottle around 6:30 a.m., pats him lightly on the back to help him burp. This is where his head would have hit that of the baby, who began to cry. He puts him back down.
“The eyes go in all directions”
At 10:15 a.m., the baby wakes up. While holding him in his arms, the father then allegedly tripped over a toy, causing them to fall down the stairs. The child does not vomit or lose consciousness, but around 11:40 a.m. his eyes become misaligned: “The eyes go in all directions.” The father goes to the emergency room with his wife, but he does not immediately report the fall.
On November 6, the medical examiner noted a context of neurological disorders and declared that the child's vital prognosis was in jeopardy. He sees it as a shaking mechanism. The father denies any violence and speaks of a « accident ». There is only one entry in his criminal record for speeding.
The baby still in serious condition
He was indicted for “violence followed by mutilation or permanent disability of a minor under 15 years of age” on November 8. A week later, he appealed his order of placement in pre-trial detention before the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Orléans (Loiret).
His defender, Me Samuel Edoube Mann, returns to the conclusions of the forensic doctor, evoking the thesis of the “shaken baby”, and is surprised : “The hematoma can also come from the child's fall around 10:30 a.m. This is not necessarily on the order of intentional violence. » The black dress continues: “This child is wanted and there was no exasperation with this child who sleeps normally. His only mistake was that, paralyzed by his fall, he did not talk about it right away. » The suspect agrees to be sent away to his father as part of a judicial review.
The general counsel, Isabelle Pagenelle, does not share the same vision. She detects a risk of consultation with the wife in this « house clos familial ». On the first phase in mid-September, she describes medical findings “ambivalent”. As for the second report, the father tried to hide the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome from the nanny.
It requires its imperative detention in a context of denial “especially since the baby risks dying”. The court confirms the order for continued pre-trial detention.
