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A 29-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering his former girlfriend's nine-month old son, following the High Court's rejection of his defence that the baby fell by accident, The Straits Times reported.
Judge: Defence does not match with autopsy findings
On Nov. 7, 2019, Mohamed Aliff Mohamed Yusoff claimed that he had been holding the infant, Izz Fayyaz Zayani Ahmad, in one arm and was attempting to close the van's door with the other when the baby fidgeted.
This resulted in the child falling onto the floorboad of the van head-first, then onto the ground of the car park.
However, the judge said that Aliff's claim of an accidental fall was not consistent with the findings of the autopsy and medical opinion.
A senior consultant forensic pathologist, Gilbert Lau, testified that the infant had died from bleeding within the brain, which was caused by trauma.
ST further highlighted that Aliff had also given several different versions of the incident to the police.
This included admitting that he had pushed the child's head against the floorboard.
Lau added that of all the versions Aliff presented, the one in which he said he pushed the baby's head twice against the floorboard had the greatest consistency with the findings of the autopsy.
What happened on Nov. 7, 2019?
Aliff was accused of causing serious injuries to Izz on the night of Nov. 7, 2019, by deliberately slamming the baby’s head against the floorboard of a van.
The incident took place at the Block 840A multi-storey car park along Yishun Street 81.
The judge was further quoted by ST as saying that Aliff's conduct following the incident supported the version in which his actions were done on purpose.
Alif's former girlfriend, Nadiah Abdul Jalil, testified that Aliff had delayed taking her and her child to the accident and emergency department (A&E department) of the National University Hospital (NUH).
When he parked at the basement of the hospital, he proceeded to brush his teeth and wipe his body first, out of fear of being placed in remand by the police, according to Nadiah.
He also supposedly took a detour from the A&E department to dispose of his mobile phone.
In total, he took 36 minutes, from the time he parked his car, to take Nadiah and Izz to the A&E department.
Aliff was initially charged on Nov. 9, 2019 for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to the boy.
He was then charged with murder on Nov. 15, 2019.
The court heard that the prosecution is not seeking capital punishment for Aliff.
He will return to court in August for sentencing.
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