The Erie man accused of fatally injuring his 2-year-old daughter has had all of his charges bound over to trial following his preliminary hearing.
According to Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz, 24-year-old Dieudonne Bwisha appeared before Magisterial District Judge Paul A. Bizzarro for a preliminary hearing on December 17, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Erie man charged with homicide for death of 2-year-old daughter
Bwisha was arrested for allegedly assaulting his 2-year-old daughter in June and was charged again in August with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and endangering a child.
Police said he brought his daughter to UPMC Hamot on May 30 with serious injuries and was unresponsive before passing away later that evening.
The criminal complaint says police interviewed Bwisha’s sister, who was allegedly babysitting at the time the assault happened. Bwisha came downstairs to get the child around 8:30 that evening, when she ran away, Bwisha hit her on the back for it, which she told him to stop doing.
She allegedly told investigators that he took the child upstairs and heard loud pounding that didn’t sound like footsteps.
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Bwisha allegedly admitted to police that he hit her “hard” on the backside, causing her to hit her head on a wall corner. When he went to get her out of bed later that evening, she was not responsive, was having trouble breathing and her eyes rolled to the back of her head when he took her to UPMC Hamot.
An autopsy performed on May 31 by Forensic Pathologist Todd Luckasevic later determined the child’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the trunk, with Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook noting the manner of death as homicide.
Bwisha will appear for a formal arraignment on for criminal homicide, two separate charges of aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of a child, along with misdemeanor simple assault and reckless endangerment.
DA Hirz said that the arraignment has yet to be scheduled. Until then, he’s being held in the Erie County Prison without bail.
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