Murder trial sees extent of little girl's head injuries
By Michele Mandel, Toronto Sun First posted: Friday, February 27, 2015 07:47 PM EST | Updated: Friday, February 27, 2015 08:36 PM EST
BRAMPTON - There is little more heartbreaking than the autopsy photos of a child.
In vivid, horrid colour, they showed that Niyati Jha’s skull had been fractured at least twice, if not more, in the last months of her young life. The final blunt force blow to her head caused her brain to swell so much that it had begun to leak out of her left ear. It was so swollen that the cerebellum and brain stem were forced through the hole in the base of her skull into her spinal cord.
Just shy of her fourth birthday, she had suffered new head wounds as well as refractured older ones, causing bleeding through layer after layer of her brain.
Niyati had a broken 11th rib that was mending as well as a healing fracture to one of her vertebraebetween her shoulder blades. Her forearms, thighs, neck, back, chest and even behind her ear had a kaleidoscope of old and new scars and black and blue bruises in areas a preschooler would not normally be injured.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Charis Kepron walked the jury through the graphic autopsy photos of the dark-haired girl with the beautiful long eyelashes and then summarized her findings on a CGI (computer generated imagery) 3D model that could be rotated with the tap of a key. The drawing itemized a plethora of injuries, old and new, both internal and external, from Niyati’s head down to her ankles. The cause of death, she concluded, was “blunt impact head injuries in a child with healing skull fractures and multiple other injuries of varying ages.”
But who — or what — caused those grievous wounds? Was her mom to blame, wielding a frying pan or the unusual rock found in her Mississauga kitchen? Or was it from Niyati pulling a bookcase down on herself about a month before her death, as the defence will maintain, while climbing to reach cookies on the top shelf? And if that explains her first head injury, what explains the fatal second one?
Her mother Nandini Jha, 37, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
While Jha listened to the evidence through a Hindi interpreter, the pathologist explained that it would have taken “significant force” to cause Niyati’s initial skull fractures and less force for the subsequent head trauma because her skull was already weakened.
She told Crown prosecutor Andrea Esson that the time between the child’s older head injuries and the ultimately fatal ones would be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Asked to comment on the nature of Niyati’s many wounds, the pathologist said she couldn’t say for certain, but they didn’t appear to be accidental.
“The number of injuries to the child’s body, the distribution of the injuries to the child’s body and the multiple injuries of varying ages are highly suspicious of inflicted injury,” Kepron said.
The first skull fractures would have left Niyati in obvious pain, the pathologist added, while the fatal head trauma would result in obvious symptoms of distress. “The child will appear immediately unwell.”
The jury has heard Jha’s husband saw a large bruise on Niyati’s face in August 2011 and insisted they take her to the walk-in clinic on Aug. 18. The doctor said Jha told him a bookshelf had fallen on her daughter but he found no signs of serious injury.
On Sept. 20, Niyati’s parents brought her back to the clinic, this time unconscious. Jha told the doctor nothing unusual had happened that morning while her husband had been at work — her daughter simply ate a cookie and then took a nap.
The little girl would never wake up. She was declared brain dead the following day at Sick Kids.
The pathologist agreed with defence lawyer Dirk Derstine that Niyati’s older head wounds could have happened in August 2011. Asked whether a falling bookcase could have been responsible, Kepron said that kind of accident would typically involve the skull base, which hadn’t been affected in her case.
He pressed on, asking whether she could unequivocally exclude a falling bookcase as the cause of Niyati’s head and rib injuries. “I couldn’t exclude it,” she admitted.
The trial continues.
Nandini Jha, right, has been charged with murdering her three-year-old daughter. (Facebook photo)
Murder trial sees extent of little girl's head injuries | MANDEL | Toronto & GTA
By Michele Mandel, Toronto Sun First posted: Friday, February 27, 2015 07:47 PM EST | Updated: Friday, February 27, 2015 08:36 PM EST
BRAMPTON - There is little more heartbreaking than the autopsy photos of a child.
In vivid, horrid colour, they showed that Niyati Jha’s skull had been fractured at least twice, if not more, in the last months of her young life. The final blunt force blow to her head caused her brain to swell so much that it had begun to leak out of her left ear. It was so swollen that the cerebellum and brain stem were forced through the hole in the base of her skull into her spinal cord.
Just shy of her fourth birthday, she had suffered new head wounds as well as refractured older ones, causing bleeding through layer after layer of her brain.
Niyati had a broken 11th rib that was mending as well as a healing fracture to one of her vertebraebetween her shoulder blades. Her forearms, thighs, neck, back, chest and even behind her ear had a kaleidoscope of old and new scars and black and blue bruises in areas a preschooler would not normally be injured.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Charis Kepron walked the jury through the graphic autopsy photos of the dark-haired girl with the beautiful long eyelashes and then summarized her findings on a CGI (computer generated imagery) 3D model that could be rotated with the tap of a key. The drawing itemized a plethora of injuries, old and new, both internal and external, from Niyati’s head down to her ankles. The cause of death, she concluded, was “blunt impact head injuries in a child with healing skull fractures and multiple other injuries of varying ages.”
But who — or what — caused those grievous wounds? Was her mom to blame, wielding a frying pan or the unusual rock found in her Mississauga kitchen? Or was it from Niyati pulling a bookcase down on herself about a month before her death, as the defence will maintain, while climbing to reach cookies on the top shelf? And if that explains her first head injury, what explains the fatal second one?
Her mother Nandini Jha, 37, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
While Jha listened to the evidence through a Hindi interpreter, the pathologist explained that it would have taken “significant force” to cause Niyati’s initial skull fractures and less force for the subsequent head trauma because her skull was already weakened.
She told Crown prosecutor Andrea Esson that the time between the child’s older head injuries and the ultimately fatal ones would be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Asked to comment on the nature of Niyati’s many wounds, the pathologist said she couldn’t say for certain, but they didn’t appear to be accidental.
“The number of injuries to the child’s body, the distribution of the injuries to the child’s body and the multiple injuries of varying ages are highly suspicious of inflicted injury,” Kepron said.
The first skull fractures would have left Niyati in obvious pain, the pathologist added, while the fatal head trauma would result in obvious symptoms of distress. “The child will appear immediately unwell.”
The jury has heard Jha’s husband saw a large bruise on Niyati’s face in August 2011 and insisted they take her to the walk-in clinic on Aug. 18. The doctor said Jha told him a bookshelf had fallen on her daughter but he found no signs of serious injury.
On Sept. 20, Niyati’s parents brought her back to the clinic, this time unconscious. Jha told the doctor nothing unusual had happened that morning while her husband had been at work — her daughter simply ate a cookie and then took a nap.
The little girl would never wake up. She was declared brain dead the following day at Sick Kids.
The pathologist agreed with defence lawyer Dirk Derstine that Niyati’s older head wounds could have happened in August 2011. Asked whether a falling bookcase could have been responsible, Kepron said that kind of accident would typically involve the skull base, which hadn’t been affected in her case.
He pressed on, asking whether she could unequivocally exclude a falling bookcase as the cause of Niyati’s head and rib injuries. “I couldn’t exclude it,” she admitted.
The trial continues.
Nandini Jha, right, has been charged with murdering her three-year-old daughter. (Facebook photo)
Murder trial sees extent of little girl's head injuries | MANDEL | Toronto & GTA