by Elena Chong
AN UNEMPLOYED man who violently shook his baby girl to make her
sleep was jailed for two years on Monday for causing her death by
doing a rash act.
Devagirii, 30, had admitted to rocking the two-month-old infant
forcefully for about 10 to 15 minutes at his rented flat at York
Hill on June 10 last year.The infant died of bleeding in the brain
a week later.
The court heard that Devagirii's wife, Ms Saraswathi
Subramaniam, 22, had left for work that evening when the baby
started to cry. He wrapped the victim in a blanket and carried her
to a sofa where he tried to rock her to make her stop crying and go
to sleep.
When she still had not fallen asleep 20 to 30 minutes later, he
became frustrated and carried her, rocking her forcefully for about
10 to 15 minutes. After she had quietened down, he put her on the
bed.
The next morning, his wife returned home from work and noticed
the baby behaving strangely when she tried to feed her. The couple
took the child to hospital where she died on June 17.
His lawyer S. Balamurugan said the father of two loved the
victim very much. He said Devagirii's wife did not blame him as she
strongly believed that he did not intend to hurt the victim at all.
Devagirii could have been jailed for up to five years and/or
fined.