Seven years after the death of little Augustin, aged 10 months, the trial of his nanny, suspected of having caused the death of the baby by shaking him, opened Monday morning before the Assize Court of Hauts-de- Seine.
On November 24, 2015, the nanny from Montrouge, now 61, called the Samu to report that the 10-month-old baby in her care was unconscious. Quickly, when the child arrived in the intensive care unit at the Necker hospital in Paris, a doctor detected shaken baby syndrome. A diagnosis that will be confirmed by other experts. Augustin died on December 10, 2015, two weeks after his hospitalization.
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The nanny, described as a rigorous and calm professional, denies that the baby was shaken by her or her husband, who was present at the home on the day of the tragedy. “At home, we didn’t grow up in violence, we can’t stand violence“, she said during the investigation, recalled Monday morning the president of the assize court, when recalling the facts.
The nanny appears free after being placed under judicial control. Facing her are the parents of little Augustin, accompanied by their eldest son, Augustin’s big brother. Beside them, an empty chair, on which was posted a portrait of the deceased infant.
On the morning of the tragedy, when Augustin’s father dropped him off at the nurse’s, she said she was worried about his appearance. She tells investigators,never to have seen such a face, dark circles, (…) contoured with red, very pale complexion“. The father replies that the baby had a fever during the night, perhaps because of a growing tooth.
During the day, she finds him “all soft», the body completely relaxed and worried about the fact that it no longer breathes. In a panic, guided by the emergency services on the telephone, she tries to give him cardiac massage, in vain.
The nanny, prosecuted for “violence resulting in death without intention to give it to a minor of 15 years by person having authority“, risks, theoretically, a maximum sentence of 30 years of imprisonment. Her husband was also indicted, but has since died.
The verdict is expected Friday in Nanterre.