By Van Meguerditchian
NAAMEH, Lebanon: With investigations ongoing into the death of a
3-month-old who died Thursday, the infants parents were transferred Friday to
Baabda’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. A senior police source told The Daily Star
that a family dispute may have been behind the beating that led to baby Ghina’s
death.
Ghina Abdel-Razzaq Hawana died Thursday morning on the way to
Saint Therese Hospital in the Baabda town of Hadath. Doctors said she had
suffered multiple fractures as a result of repeated beatings.
Judicial sources said preliminary investigations suggested that
the child’s father had beat her, with her mother’s knowledge. Neither parent
has admitted responsibility for the death.
Mother Mariam Nabil Hazeni is 18 years old.
“On the second day of questioning, the parents have given
conflicting explanations of the baby’s circumstances before her death,” a
judicial source from Mount Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor’s Office told The Daily
Star.
The senior police source said it also appears that a family
dispute involving someone other than the parents is connected to the case.
“There seems to be a family dilemma in this case that we are trying to uncover
in a matter of hours,” the police source said.
Ghina’s father, Mahmoud Abdel-Razzaq Hawana, drove Ghina to the
hospital Thursday and told doctors that her health had severely deteriorated as
a result of a cold. Suspicious doctors insisted the father stay at the hospital
to complete paperwork and called the police.
Saint Therese Hospital surgeon Bassam Feghali said Thursday that
Ghina had at least 20 injuries on her body, and her ribs had been broken by
severe beating.
Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour has described the case as
a monstrous act by the parents.
The parents’ neighbors in the Chouf coastal town of Naameh said
Friday they never expected such behavior from the couple, but most had heard
loud crying in the past few weeks.The newlyweds moved to the five-story
building around a year ago, according to a resident who knows the building
well.
Most of the neighbors told The Daily Star the family had
exhibited no unusual behavior and a woman who lives next door to the Hawanas’
apartment said she was very surprised to hear of the baby’s death.
“I just can’t believe it,” she said. “I see them every day and
we greet each other and sometimes he [Mahmoud] used to ask me for some tools to
fix things in his apartment,” added the neighbor, who refused to have her name
published.
“I saw his wife at the shop downstairs; she was a nice girl but
never told me of any problems at home,” she said.
Suleiman Qassem, who lives on the building’s top floor, said he
recently helped Mahmoud fix a water problem and never suspected he was violent.
“For the past two weeks we heard the baby, but I never suspected
they [the parents] were the cause of her crying,” said Qassem, who added that
he was surprised the child’s mother had told no one about the alleged abuse.
“If her husband was beating the baby, she could have told the
neighbors, she could have told my mother about these things ... why didn’t
she?” Qassem asked.
Ahmad, 25, who lives in an adjacent building, said he heard a
baby cry during the night last week, but could not say whether it was anything
out of the ordinary.
Another neighbor said he saw Mahmoud carrying the baby girl,
wrapped in white sheets, to his white Renault car in front of the building on
the day she died.
There have been no comments from the couple’s extended family so
far, and the Hawanas’ apartment remains locked pending the conclusion of
investigations.
Ghina is not the only child to have been severely beaten in the
past month.
Nine-month-old Cassandra is still being treated at a hospital in
Chouf after she was taken there earlier this month, and her parents are in
police custody but have not been charged with a crime.
An 8-month-old Palestinian infant was admitted to Beirut’s Rafik
Hariri Hospital Friday suffering from severe brain injuries, according to a
statement from the Social Affairs Ministry.
The statement said Abu Faour had spoken with officials there,
and that the child’s body had been covered in bruises and burns.
“The parents have said the infant’s injuries are due to a fall
from his 8-year-old sister’s hands,” the ministry statement said.
Meanwhile, the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch
arrested a 34-year-old Palestinian man for sexually harassing an 8-year-old Lebanese
girl in Sidon.
“Abu Faour
telephoned Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi asking him to take the strictest
legal measures in cases that involve child victims,” the Social Affairs
Ministry statement said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-16/177060-infant-may-be-victim-of-chouf-newlywed-couples-violence.ashx
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