Breda man gets 7 years in prison, treatment for shaking his baby to death
The court of appeals sentenced 29-year-old Kevin van de B. from Breda to seven years in prison and institutionalized psychiatric treatment for killing his baby. In 2017, Van de B. shook his 7-month-old son Rivano so hard that he died in hospital two days later, Omroep Brabant reports.
The court previously sentenced Van de B. to 7.5 years in prison but no mandatory treatment. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) appealed, fearing recurrence if Van de B. did not get treatment for various disorders, aggression, and poor development.
The challenging part of the case was that no one saw what happened to baby Rivano, according to the broadcaster. Experts determined that the baby was severely abused. He had a severe injury in his mouth - his tongue tie had been torn loose by a “blunt object” and was bleeding profusely. There was blood splatter all over his bedroom.
The OM argued that only Van de B. and the child’s mother were with Rivano, and Van de B. was the only one who was alone with the baby when the mother went to run an errand.
The court considered it proven that Van de B. caused severe injuries to his child when the mother was out. Videos and photos of that day show Rivano being fine and happy. At around 5:45 p.m., he was sitting on his father’s lap, sucking on a ladyfinger cookie.
When the mother returned from the errand, Rivano was having trouble breathing. Around 10:00 p.m., she called her mother, saying it looked like Rivano was dying. She also looked for medical information online.
Rivano’s mother’s statements were always clear and corresponded to the facts, the court said. Unlike Van de B.’s. He initially claimed that the mother never left and that the baby was fine until he went to check on him later that night. That goes against the hospital’s findings. When the baby arrived in the emergency room, his temperature was already below 30 degrees, indicating that he had been in a bad condition for hours before.
The court believes Van de B. shook Rivano so hard between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. that evening that he suffered severe brain damage and died. Experts also called the injuries to Rivano’s mouth unprecedented. They never concluded what was shoved into the baby’s mouth, but semen was found on one of his soft toys.
The appeals court sentenced Van de B. to seven years in prison with mandatory treatment. He must also pay 25,000 euros in emotional damages to Rivano’s mother.
