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Baby sitter in infant’s death granted bail
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Posted on Nov 10 2000
Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas yesterday set a $50,000 cash bail for the temporary release of baby sitter Reynaldo A. Manila, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse in connection with the death of a six-month-old Filipino baby.
According to a police report, the baby’s parents Jonathan Mendoza and Lory Dizon brought Nina Ricci to the residence of Mr. Manila to take care of their daughter on Oct. 27, 2000.
At about 9:30 p.m., Mr. Manila left the baby who was sleeping on the bed because he had to go to the bathroom. When he went back, he saw the baby about to fall from the bed.
He said he rushed to catch the baby but Nina’s forehead already hit the bottom portion of the bed. The baby kept on crying and when he checked, he saw red bruises on her forehead and red marks on both cheeks.
Mr. Manila claimed he informed her live-in partner about the incident as soon as she arrived home and even called up the parents at work.
On the evening of Oct. 28, 2000, baby Nina was rushed to the Commonwealth Health Center by her parents due to seizure and fever. She was confined at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where she was attended to by Dr. Sydney Kometami. The doctor saw bruises on the baby’s forehead and results of the CT scan showed intracranial bleeding.
Baby Nina died on Monday at around 10:30 p.m.. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the real cause of the baby’s death.
Doctors suspect the death of the baby was a result of the shaken baby syndrome, a form of child abuse which was discovered by a pediatric radiologist in the U.S. mainland in 1972.
Brain damage results when the infant’s brain slams repeatedly against the skull’s interior. Most parents still do not know that shaking a baby even during an innocent horseplay can be dangerous.
A frustrated parent or caregiver becomes angry at a crying infant and shakes the child into silent submission not knowing that it can rattle the child into unconsciousness or cause enough brain damage to kill him within seconds.
Judge Bellas prohibited Mr. Manila from leaving the CNMI. (LFR)
