{"id":5026,"date":"2025-07-17T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/5026\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:33:13","slug":"boy-six-who-killed-newborn-after-being-left-to-roam-french-maternity-ward-was-found-on-a-chair-next-to-the-babys-crib-calling-the-girl-his-doll-says-horrified-woman-who-discovered-the-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/5026\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy, six, ‘who killed newborn after being left to roam French maternity ward was found on a chair next to the baby’s crib calling the girl his “doll”‘, says horrified woman who discovered the scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

A six-year-old boy who allegedly killed a newborn baby in a French maternity ward had been left to roam the wards unattended and referred to the victim as ‘my doll’, witnesses have claimed.<\/p>\n

Police launched a criminal inquiry into the\u00a0horror that unfolded at the Rainbow ward at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children’s Hospital in the northern city of Lille, France, on Friday, July 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Baby Zayneb-Cassandra\u00a0\u2013 who was born by caesarean section to parents Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora, and survived despite being around six weeks premature\u00a0\u2013 was found lying unresponsive on the floor beside her crib with a traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n

The boy, who was found standing on a chair beside her, is believed to have plucked the tiny baby from her crib and dropped her on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The boy and the baby were discovered by Delphine, a young woman who had recently given birth herself, who rushed into the room after hearing what she described as a ‘loud bang’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zayneb was resuscitated twice, but she died from her injuries on Tuesday after spending the weekend on life support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delphine, 20, later told Le Parisien<\/a> that the boy in question had been disruptive for days and was not being supervised as his mother was also recovering from giving birth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘He was running around everywhere and had already touched a baby in a stroller,’ Delphine said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Karima, a cousin of Zayneb’s grieving father alleged that the boy had fixated on Zayneb, calling her ‘my doll’, and had likely touched her unsupervised a day prior to her fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘The day before, Zayneb had already been found without a diaper or electrodes, wet and suffering from hypothermia,’ Karima claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The horror unfolded at the Jeanne-de-Flandre Children’s Hospital in the northern city of Lille<\/p>\n

\"Zayneb's <\/p>\n

Zayneb’s grieving father Mohamed-Hamza told French press that he will ‘fight to identify those responsible’ for the tragedy<\/p>\n

Now, questions are mounting as to how the boy was able to gain access to Zayneb’s crib in the neonatal unit alone, despite being reported as a ‘disruptive presence’ in the hospital.<\/p>\n

Karima explained how the boy was running riot in the halls for days after being dropped off at the hospital each morning by his father.<\/p>\n

‘The father would drop him off in the ward from 7am to 8pm,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zayneb’s grandmother, Fatma, told the Voix du Nord newspaper: ‘The boy would arrive at 7am and spend all day running up and down the hallways.<\/p>\n

‘All the mothers were complaining, and a nurse even warned the child’s mother that there was a problem. He was entering the other rooms.<\/p>\n

‘He also entered Zayneb’s room for the first time. He said she looked like a doll, and my husband, who was there, took him out.’<\/p>\n

‘It seems he tried to grab her by her nappy, and she fell on her head,’ Fatma concluded.<\/p>\n

‘My family is destroyed… My daughter is devastated. Coming home without her baby is inconceivable.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zayneb’s distraught father, Mohamed-Hamza, told Le Parisien he doesn’t blame the boy who allegedly caused his daughter’s life-ending injuries, but hit out at the hospital for their lack of care.<\/p>\n

‘Every six-year-old is a little disruptive. I don’t blame the mother; she had just given birth… But the child should have been supervised,’ the 23-year-old declared.<\/p>\n

Fatma added that she had to push medical staff to arrange psychological support for her inconsolable daughter-in-law after she was informed her child had died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mohamed-Hamza's <\/p>\n

Mohamed-Hamza’s cousin Karima alleged that the six-year-old boy had fixated on Zayneb, calling her ‘my doll’, and had likely touched her unsupervised a day prior to her fall<\/p>\n

An NHS neonatal nurse told MailOnline that it is highly unusual for babies in the neonatal ward to be left alone and that the six-year-old boy should never have been able to access the room where Zayneb was lying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Never, under any circumstances, can a neonatal ward be left unsupervised… you always need to have at least one nurse in the room,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A criminal investigation into the tragedy was opened this week by the juvenile unit of the Lille Judicial Police Service, in conjunction with local prosecutors.<\/p>\n

‘Investigations are currently underway in this case,’ said a spokesperson for Lille prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The hospital also announced the opening of ‘an internal administrative investigation’.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: ‘This human tragedy has deeply affected the staff and teams of Lille University Children’s Hospital, as well as the other families present.’<\/p>\n

A separate statement provided to French press acknowledged ‘a particularly serious and upsetting exceptional event, unrelated to care’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘The thoughts of the University Hospital professionals are first and foremost with the young victim, her family, and her loved ones,’ it read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hospital also added that\u00a0‘measures to strictly limit visits to the neonatal units of the Lille University Hospital have been taken as a precautionary measure’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mohamed-Hamza and Sephora have not yet filed an official complaint, but dismissed the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It won’t bring my daughter back… But we’re waiting for answers. There was a breach, and I’m going to fight to identify those responsible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Justice will do its job,’ he told Le Parisien.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A six-year-old boy who allegedly killed a newborn baby in a French maternity ward had been left to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[97,819,49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-5026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}