Baby dies after beating in Puerto Rico
By IANSMonday, February 7, 2011
San Juan, Feb 8 (IANS/EFE) A Puerto Rican woman accused of beating to death her three-month-old son has been jailed.
The woman was jailed Monday after she failed to post the $500,000 bail set by a judge.
Zuleika Forti Martinez, 26, initially claimed that husband Edelmiro Colon Marrero was responsible for the injuries the baby suffered last Wednesday.
She said that Colon, the child’s stepfather, hit the baby with a baseball bat, but confessed after intense questioning that she was the perpetrator of the attack.
Forti had a fierce argument with her husband after which she beat the child.
The woman told police that after hitting the baby she went to bed, leaving the little boy in apparently good condition, but the next morning she saw that he had difficulty in breathing.
The infant was taken to a hospital, where the boy died two hours later.
An autopsy showed that the baby died of a skull trauma and that he had two broken ribs at the time he was admitted to hospital.
–IANS/EFE
