A couple of young parents suspected of abusing their child have been indicted after the death of their eight-month-old baby in a Marseille hospital, the Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday. .
The 19-year-old father was placed in pre-trial detention for “usual violence against a minor under the age of 15 which resulted in death”, said the public prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence Jean-Luc Blachon, confirming information from France Blue Provence. The 21-year-old mother was placed under judicial supervision and is being prosecuted for “non-denunciation of ill-treatment of a minor under the age of 15”. The couple, who live in Martigues, about forty kilometers west of Marseille, dispute the facts.
The baby, who arrived on February 8 at the Timone hospital in Marseille, was in a coma. He had serious head injuries and broken ribs and legs. It was a doctor from the hospital who had alerted the justice system. The infant died of his injuries three days later.
Judicial information was opened on this file, and an investigating judge seized.