Dad's agony after baby 'killed by boy, 6, loose on ward' as family blast hospital

The heartbroken family of a newborn baby who died after allegedly being dropped by an unsupervised six-year-old boy have hit out at the hospital where the tragedy occurred.

Zayneb-Cassandra was born prematurely at seven-and-a-half months at Jeanne-de-Flandre Children's Hospital in Lille in northern France. However, she was barely a week old when she died from a severe brain injury after suffering a fall last Friday.

A criminal investigation is now underway after the baby was rushed to intensive care but tragically pronounced dead on Tuesday. The boy involved had already been reported as being a ‘disruptive presence’ within the hospital when he was found alone with the unconscious baby in a neonatal unit.

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Speaking for the first time since his daughter's death, Mohamed-Hamza, 23, said he broke down in years when his wife Sephora called him to say that their baby had been dropped on the floor in hospital. The family claim have not received an apology from the hospital yet.

"I was the one who had to ask the hospital staff for psychological support for my daughter, who had just lost her child," said grandmother Fatma.

Karima, Mohamed-Hamza's cousin, added that the boy believed to have injured Zayneb was heard referring to the baby as his "doll". She told Le Parisien: "The father would drop him off in the ward from 7am to 8pm. The little boy called Zayneb 'my doll!'"

The child - the son of another mum on a maternity ward - had been seen going into other rooms and disrupting patients before the tragedy.

Zayneb was Sephora's first child and was reportedly delivered by caesarean section. "The delivery went very well, but the little girl was premature, so she was taken to a neonatal unit, while her mum remained in a maternity ward," one investigating source added.

The family also denounced the hospital for showing a "lack of empathy" following the baby's death. While since the accident, the parents have had no contact with the boy's mum or dad.

Mohamed-Hamza said: "Every six-year-old is a little disruptive. I don't blame the mother. She had just given birth... But the child should have been supervised."

Fatma described how her family has been ripped apart by the tragedy. "My family is destroyed," she said, before adding that, "My daughter is devastated. Coming home without her baby is inconceivable."

An investigation has been opened by the juvenile unit of the Lille Judicial Police Service. "Investigations are currently underway in this case," said a spokesman for Lille prosecutors.

The hospital also announced the opening of "an internal administrative investigation". A spokesman said: "This human tragedy has deeply affected the staff and teams of Lille University Children’s Hospital, as well as the other families present."