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Man charged with neglect after baby dies in bed

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by usehername:
    Unless there was some evidence that he killed the baby deliberately/is a danger to the public
    Talking to him is collecting evidence.
    i would have thought they could have given him a couple days to begin to come to terms with what happened before marching him to the station.
    Alternative view : If he was guilty, he'd be using those couple of days to hide the crime.

    There is no room for sentimentality at a crime scene.

  2. #12

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    Howard, I am not a criminal legal expert, but from my limited understanding, unless the police believe the father is an imminent danger or is going to run away, they lose nothing by "talking to him" to collect evidence. They do not need to arrest him to do this. The father may give statements and/or evidence without having been arrested and this will all be admissible if indeed a criminal conviction is sought afterwards.

    Actually, in these types of cases, in the UK it is not recommended for police to arrest and take statements immediately because it gives a defence to the accused later down the line that they were not of sound mind when being interviewed.

    In my opinion, absent an imminent danger, and assuming that this really is as simple as "SIDS" (and the act of accidental suffocation of a child is not a criminal act), IMHO the police acted too quickly and without sensitivity.


  3. #13

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    Also, don't get his arrest and a police investigation at the scene as the same thing. Again, the police will have powers to survey the scene without the need to arrest him.


  4. #14

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    Ah, well I didn't appreciate there was a difference in likelihood of this being accidental because the baby was 9 months old. If that's the case, then it sounds like there was nothing accidental about it.


  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by iliketurtles:
    Ah, well I didn't appreciate there was a difference in likelihood of this being accidental because the baby was 9 months old. If that's the case, then it sounds like there was nothing accidental about it.
    I don't agree. My husband is a very sound sleeper and often doesn't wake when our baby cries. Chinese babies are often small and a young 9 month old is not coordinated enough to push blankets, let alone a person, away.

    The article suggests the police are treating this as an accident.

  6. #16

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    Original Post Deleted
    But if the baby could breath well enough to scream it wouldn't have suffocated. The whole problem was his nose and mouth were restricted.

  7. #17

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    Maybe.

    My guess -and that's all it is- is the baby ended up under the duvet and the dad rolled over and trapped the baby. It may not even have woken up, but as the amount of oxygen fell it died.

    If the father did it deliberately he deserves hell. But seems police aren't treating it as such at least at the moment.