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NSW Supreme Court told man whipped and punched 2-year old girl

Jan 30, 2019

SYDNEY, Australia – Last Friday we reported a story about an 8-week old baby girl who had been admitted to Sydney Children’s Hospital with bleeding on the brain, fractures to her left leg, and suspected detached retinas. Detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad were called to the hospital and after inquiries arrested the baby’s 26-year old father.

We began the story by saying physical abuse of a child had reached a new low.

How wrong we were.

On Tuesday in Sydney the New South Wales Supreme Court was told of another case which was even more horrific. Similarly, a two-year old girl was rushed to hospital with signs of severe beatings, and brain damage.

According to Georgina Mitchell, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, Crown prosecutor Philip Hogan told the court that, in the week leading up to the girl being admitted to hospital, she was hit every day, became unconscious four times and appeared to be “groggy” and “drowsy.”

Her mother’s boyfriend, Mohammed Khazma, 25, is accused of knocking the girl unconscious by grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into a wall, and of using the hot metal of a cigarette lighter to inflict multiple burns on her skin, some of which became infected, Mitchell reported.

The mother of the girl had been dating the man for some weeks before the attacks started. The pair were living at Guildford in Sydney’s West.

Khazma is accused of slapping and choking the girl, making her stand in a corner until her legs turned purple, whipping her with a phone charger cord, punching her, and holding her upside down over a bin.

He allegedly grabbed the girl by the shoulders and “aggressively” shook her on the afternoon of December 19, 2016 then stopped her mother from calling triple zero as the toddler gasped for air.

The girl’s mother put her daughter in a car about 3pm and drove her to the home of Mr Khazma’s relatives, who called emergency services, The Sydney Morning Herald report said.

The girl was put on life support but was taken off life support the following day and died.

Khazma is now facing a charge of murder. The trial is expected to last six weeks.

On Tuesday he pleaded not guilty. His barrister Luke Brasch told the jury the girl’s mother was the person who inflicted the girl’s injuries, according to Georgina Mitchell’s report in the Herald.

“This is, on any view, a tragic case. It involves the death of a young two-year-old girl,” he told the court.

“I wish to make it clear on behalf of the accused, Mohammed Khazma, that he denies these allegations.”

Mr Brasch said the girl’s mother “falsely accused” his client to “cover up” her own conduct.

“Her account is very much in dispute in this trial,” he said.

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