Since the tragedy seven years ago until her last words before the Assize Court, this Friday afternoon, Nouria B. repeated it: she never shook little Augustin.
Augustin, this baby died in 2015, at the age of ten months, victim of shaken baby syndrome according to almost all the experts called upon in this case.
The jurors believed her.
This Friday evening, at the end of a dense and emotional trial, the Assize Court pronounced the acquittal of this 61-year-old woman, who seemed overwhelmed and filled with deep sadness throughout the trial. audience.
It must be said that neither the investigation nor the trial brought to light formal proof of the responsibility of the childminder, described by many witnesses as a competent, loving and benevolent nanny.
The Advocate General, who requested five years in prison, had nevertheless considered that she alone could have shaken the little boy.
Because even if the nanny's husband and son were present in the Montrouge apartment on the morning of the tragedy, the testimonies establish that they never took care of the children looked after by the nanny.
“It seems to me absolutely indubitable that this child was shaken on November 24 after being handed over by his father to the childminder”, argued the magistrate, relying on the findings of “nine experts, nine specialists”, who "all conclude in the same way that there is shaken baby syndrome" in the case of Augustin's death.
Experts suggesting that the shaking immediately precedes the symptoms.
“Questionable Expertise”
But now, these expert reports are "questionable", argued the nurse's lawyers, My Christian Saint-Palais and Noémie Saïdi-Cottier throughout the debates and in their pleadings.
“There is an undeniable international controversy, among scholars, on shaken baby syndrome, developed Me Saïdi-Cottier.
We condemn controversial diagnoses.
"" We must question the reliability of the words, including that of the experts (…) You are asking for the incarceration of a woman on the basis of disputed scientific data, "supported Me Saint-Palais.
Moreover, a pediatrician expert explained to the bar that "in some cases, it was not the last person who saw the baby who shook it".
On the morning of the tragedy, November 24, 2015, Augustin's father had dropped off his son with the nanny.
At this time as the day before, "he was in great shape", scolded the lawyer for the parents of the baby, Me Pierre de Combles de Nayves.
What the nanny disputed.
For her, the little one was "pale" and "tired".
He had not eaten and when she put him to bed, little Augustin had become “all soft”, she detailed at the bar on Thursday.
Guided by the firefighters by telephone, she had performed cardiac massage which had brought the child back to life.
Before he plunged into a coma after being taken care of by the emergency services.
The baby suffered from a subdural hematoma and a retinal hemorrhage, two lesions which, combined, make it possible to make the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, according to what several experts exposed before the jurors.
But the debate over dating, when the child may have been shaken, did not bring a clear answer.