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Sarah Ngaba Murder Trial Opens Over 2019 Assault That Led to Daughter's Death

Jurors must decide whether her claim of infanticide, which applies when childbirth effects disturb the mind, reduces the crime.

Overview

  • Prosecutors opened their case Monday at Birmingham Crown Court, outlining how the 2019 assault left seven-week-old Eliza catastrophically injured.
  • The Crown showed a timeline that included a bath, a taxi call at 8:13 a.m., a lottery ticket purchase at 8:59 a.m., and a calm trip to hospital, which they said undercuts an infanticide claim.
  • Medical experts said Eliza’s skull fracture came from forceful shaking plus a significant head impact, and she later died on August 15, 2022 from an infection made deadly by those injuries.
  • Both sides accept the injuries caused Eliza’s death, and the jury must choose between murder and the partial defence of infanticide, with Ngaba already convicted in 2020 of causing grievous bodily harm for the same attack.
  • The prosecution cited psychiatrists who described pre-existing anger and irritability, arguing these traits, not a childbirth-related mental collapse, best explain the assault under UK law on infanticide.