Unamused Cat
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A baby boy was clinging to life Thursday after police say he was so severely abused that internal bleeding forced surgeons to remove his spleen and reconstruct his pancreas.
Christian Merly, 14 months, was in critical condition Thursday at Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida at HealthPark Medical Center in south Fort Myers. His mother's fiance, Christian Jimenez-Colon, 19, was in Lee County Jail on $250,000 bond, accused of aggravated child abuse.
Baby Christian is the second battered child to be brought to the Cape Coral Hospital in as many months. Joshua Jenkins, 6, died Feb. 18 under similar circumstances. Joshua's stepfather, Phillipe Gayle, 26, is charged with his death.
Police say Jimenez-Colon, also of Cape Coral, admitted to hitting the boy, pinching his throat and crushing him against a crib - all in an attempt to "help" him vomit and quell his cries.
Baby Christian's mother, Jovan Santana, 22, and Jimenez-Colon's family said they couldn't fathom he could be capable of such acts.
"I don't believe that Christian did it, not purposely," Santana said. "He's hurt at the fact that the baby is hurt. He has accepted my son as his own since my son's father died. If I felt in any way he would harm my son, I wouldn't have been with him."
The child's biological father, Jorge Merly, 29, his uncle, Jesse Merly, 21, and their friend Jonathan Severino, 25, were killed Sept. 29 in Cape Coral's deadliest canal crash.
Though baby Christian was in in the hospital Thursday, Lee Circuit Judge James Seals ordered he be removed from his mother's home and placed under the guardianship of the Department of Children and Families.
The ruling came more than a week after Santana first took her son to Cape Coral Hospital, on March 4. At the time, the baby had flu-like symptoms - a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, refusal to eat and constant crying, according to Cape Coral police detective Kurtis Grau.
Grau said doctors examined the boy and took X-rays and blood samples. They sent baby Christian home, saying it was a virus. At the time, there was no mention of bruises, Grau said.
But two days later, the emergency room pediatrician called Santana, saying baby Christian should be brought back immediately. Blood results showed the boy "may have a more serious problem," Grau reported. He was transferred to HealthPark, where doctors noted multiple coin-sized bruises on the boy's stomach, back and lip. He was also bleeding internally. The doctor told Grau it appeared baby Christian had been struck multiple times.
Dr. John Iacuone, director of The Children's Hospital, said emergency room doctors focus on immediate pains and injuries, and more serious issues might not be detected until after test results return. Internal bleeding in particular, he said, is difficult to spot, especially if the patient is a child and can't communicate.
When police interviewed Jimenez-Colon on Wednesday, he said he was frustrated over money issues. On March 3, he watched baby Christian, who had been sick for several days. The boy started heaving, and Jimenez-Colon said he took him to the bathroom.
"Christian admitted that he forcibly held the child against the toilet and began hitting the child's back with an open hand to 'help' him vomit," Grau reported. "Christian then grabbed the child's throat and pinched his windpipe, again to 'help' the child vomit. Christian admitted he'd done this with too much force because he was angry."
Later that afternoon, Jimenez-Colon said he was putting the boy down for a nap, and the child was crying.
"Christian demonstrated how he held the child's abdomen against the rail of the crib with his own body weight on top of the child," Grau reported. "Christian stated that he had his entire weight on the child until his arms and legs stopped flailing and he stopped crying. At that point, Christian realized that the child was not breathing, and he laid the child down in the crib. ... He stated every time he touched the child's abdomen, the child would moan, move his body into a ball and attempted to swat Christian away with his arms and legs."
The suspect told Grau he didn't reveal the incident earlier to medical staff or police because he didn't want to lose Santana. When the suspect's mother, Maribel Colon, heard the detective's account, tears began to well in her eyes.
"That's not my son," Colon said. "You don't understand, that's not my son. I'm not even just saying that as a mother. He would never, ever hurt a child."
On her kitchen table are framed pictures of Jimenez-Colon cradling both his 15-month-old brother Jacob and baby Christian. She said he had been around children often, and was always gentle and doting. She believes her son is covering for Santana, his girlfriend of several months, who is two months pregnant with his child.
Santana said her primary concern is baby Christian.
"My son is the victim in all of this," she said. "He's suffering. He can't speak for himself. I wish he could tell me what happened. But he can't."
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/SS08/803140389/1075
