Baby X would not have survived, court hears

Baby X died of a head wound, but a forensic pathologist believes she would not have survived another year of abuse.

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Durban - Baby X died of a head wound, but a forensic pathologist believes she would not have survived another year if the abuse and starvation continued.

Dr Sibusiso Ntsele continued his testimony on Thursday in the Durban High Court on the findings of the post-mortem he conducted on the 3-year-old.

He found that the cause of her death was a blunt head trauma inflicted during fatal child abuse.

Senior state advocate, Cheryl Naidu, had asked Ntsele what Baby X's prognosis was without the head injury.

"It was very slim," Ntsele replied.

He said she had very slim chances of surviving into older childhood if she continued to be subjected to malnourishment and abuse.

Baby X's mother and grandmother, aged 31 and 51, have pleaded not guilty to killing the child on November 19, 2014, in their Chatsworth home.

They also pleaded not guilty to charges of child abuse, assault and sexual assault against the girl's two siblings, who are now 9 and 12 years old.

The grandmother also pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting and raping the girl.

The women and the little girl cannot be named to protect the identity of the little girl's surviving siblings, the complainants in the matter.

Ntsele had earlier, in detail and through graphic post-mortem photographs, described the extent of the little girl's malnourishment.

He had referred to being able to count her ribs, which was not normal in a healthy individual. He also referred to how the muscles in between her ribs had wasted away and pointed out her concave-shaped abdomen.

On Friday, he said he would not give her more than nine months to a year of survival, based on her malnourished state alone.

"A layperson seeing the child in this state would realise the child would not have a great chance of survival. One doesn't need to be medically trained," he said.

He said any layman could see Baby X was undernourished.

He also told Judge Mohini Moodley that in his line of work, he had to set aside his emotions, but in this particular case he found it difficult because of the gruesome extent of the child's injuries.

Ntsele testified that Baby X had a blood clot in her brain with 60ml of blood, which he said was considered quite significant, because 40ml in an adult was considered significant.

He said a layman would know that hitting a 3-year-old on the head and an injury to the head would have disastrous consequences.

During cross-examination, advocate Murray Pitman, representing Baby X's mother, said other than the head injury, he did not accept Ntsele's evidence that the child would have died anyway.

"If the child abuse was not significant, I would have left it out of the cause of death, but I saw the significant role it played," Ntsele responded.

He said if the fatal head injury was not present, the cause of death would have been under-nutrition.

"The body was beginning to eat itself to survive," he said.

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za