Au pair 'shook baby to death'

A 10-month-old baby was murdered at his home by a teenage au pair, the Old Bailey heard today.

Jonathan Adeleye suffered a fracture to the back of his head and other injuries consistent with being shaken, the jury was told. He was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead hours later, after his life support machine was turned off.

Polish au pair Eva Nowakowska, 20, claimed the baby had fallen off the bed and landed on a carpeted floor of the Adeleye family's Harlesden home, the court heard. She denies murder and and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

But Richard Whittam, prosecuting, told the jury doctors found the baby's injuries were clearly "non accidental". The court also heard that at the hospital, the au pair had been so upset she told the baby's mother Sarah: "Just kill me, just kill me."

Mr Whittam said the incident in June last year was "a most tragic case". Nowakowska was 19 when she came to Britain to live with the Adeleye family. Jonathan was the only child of Mrs Adeleye and her husband Abraham.

The court heard that at about 7pm on the day Jonathan died, the au pair ran next door in her nightdress and told a neighbour: "Can you help me please, my baby, my baby." Rushing to the house, they saw Jonathan in his cot breathing very heavily and an ambulance was called.

The neighbour described Nowakowska as "out of her head with panic" and shouting: "If anything happens to Jonathan I will kill myself." The jury heard Nowakowska told a family friend Jonathan had slipped off her bed onto a pillow on the floor while she was downstairs making herself a meal. She had discovered him on the floor, he was asleep and she had put him in the cot. She said she was frightened because Mrs Adeleye had said the baby should never be left on a bed but be placed in a cot or on the floor.

She said he had tears in his eyes and she could feel something on the back of his head.

In the ambulance on the way to Central Middlesex Hospital, Jonathan's heart and breathing stopped.

They were restarted but heart was restarted and he was transferred to St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, but he remained unconscious and his parents decided to withdraw the life support system.

Nowakowska was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Mr Whittam said pathologists found the injury to the child's head was "severe and inconsistent with a short fall." The case continues.