Man gets 22 years for 1-year-old's murder
A 33-year-old man was sentenced to 22 years in prison for abusing a 14-month-old girl from Hengelo to such an extent that she died. The court in Alemlo convicted Maick S., the boyfriend of baby Xaja's mother, of murder. The sentence is 8 years longer than the Public Prosecutor demanded, partly because of the "particularly violent manner" in which he killed the girl, NU.nl reports.
Xaja died on October 12th, 2017. When the girl finally made it to the hospital, doctors tried for over an hour to save her life. She had so many injuries that it was no longer possible to determine exactly what caused her death. Doctors found 39 bruises and internal bleeding, and signs that someone had tried to strangle the girl. Xaja also had a high concentration of amphetamine in her blood. The drug was also found in S.'s blood.
The pathologist who examined Xaja's body later stated that she has never seen such serious injuries.
"After inflicting the injury, the man no longer cared about Xaja. Only later in the morning did he call [emergency number] 112", the court said. The court also took into account that the man already had a criminal record and refused to be open about what happened. According to the judge, the man was out to murder Xaja and acted consciously. In addition to prison, S. also has to pay Xaja's father and grandmother "about 84 thousand euros in damages".
The prison sentence of 22 years is eight years longer than the Public Prosecutor demanded. The Prosecutor demanded 14 years for manslaughter. But the court considered premeditation proven, which meant that the man was convicted of murder.
Xaja's mother Sarinda E. was acquitted. There is no evidence that she was awake when Xaja was abused. "Nor did she put her in a helpless state or leave her behind", the court said.