An 18-day-old baby girl suffered a fatal head injury when she was allegedly thrown out of a window by her mother, a court has heard.
Baby Mariam plunged 10 metres (32ft) from her family’s third-floor flat in Westminster, central London, on Saturday.
Zahira Byjaouane had been due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday charged with her daughter’s murder, but was unable to attend the hearing.
Emergency services arrived within minutes of her husband’s 999 call at 7.30am and found Mariam lying on a concrete surface between the block of flats on Great Peter Street and a high metal railing, the court heard.
Mariam was taken to hospital in a “critical condition” where she died at 9am, having suffered a fracture to the skull, prosecutor Philip McGhee said.
Police went inside the flat and found her mother sitting on a bed.
The 43-year-old was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and then charged with murder the following day.
Mariam’s father was present in the flat but was said to have been in the kitchen making baby formula when the defendant allegedly threw the newborn from a sash window.
Mr McGhee said the husband had run outside but was unable to reach his child. He returned inside and called 999.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC set a timetable for the case, with a plea hearing on 3 June and a provisional 10-day trial before him from 15 February 2027.
The judge remanded the defendant into custody.
UNITED KINGDOM | The child was transported to the hospital in critical condition, where he died shortly after.
Zahira Byjaouane, 43, was charged with murder by police in London, United Kingdom, after being suspected of throwing her 18-day-old daughter out of a window of her third-floor apartment on Saturday morning.
the case occurred in the Westminster neighborhood, in London, when newborn Mariam fell about 10 meters, from the third floor of the family’s apartment, on Saturday morning.
Emergency services arrived a few minutes after an alert from the father and found the baby on a concrete surface, between the building and a metal structure. The child was transported in critical condition to the hospital, where he died shortly after due to a fractured skull.
The mother was found sitting on the bed, having initially been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and later charged with murder.
At the time of the incident, the father was in the kitchen preparing milk for the baby. Upon realizing what had happened, the father ran into the street. So he returned home to call emergency services.
The case was presented at the Old Bailey court, with the judge setting out the next steps in the process. The accused, who remains in pre-trial detention, should have been heard in court but did not appear.
The trial is scheduled for February 2027.
