Baby murder jury retires to consider verdict

The jury in the case of a mother accused of murdering her baby by fracturing her skull has retired to deliberate.

Eliza Ngaba died at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford on 15 August 2022. Sarah Ngaba, 32, formerly of Briarwood in Telford, Shropshire, was charged in May this year.

She has accepted she caused "dreadful, life-shortening and life-limiting" head injuries to Eliza Ngaba, but denies murder, claiming she is instead guilty of infanticide.

Judge Mrs Justice Brunner KC told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court they should not feel under any pressure of time to reach their verdict.

The injuries to the baby girl were caused in November 2019. She later died from a respiratory infection in August 2022. The court had heard her injuries made her vulnerable to infection.

A trial has heard Ngaba was previously convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to her child.

In opening the prosecution case, Jonas Hankin KC said Ngaba took a bath and bought a lottery ticket from a shop, before taking Eliza to hospital in a taxi on 13 November 2019.

He told jurors the sole issue for them to decide is whether the balance of Ngaba's mind was disturbed at the time of the attack, and if that disturbance was partly caused by a failure to fully recover from the effects of giving birth.

He added there was no dispute that the defendant unlawfully caused Eliza's death or that she intended to cause her really serious harm.

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