Doubt cast over baby smothering case

'Muntaz' and 'Rizak' have always denied harming their child

A mother who lost her baby to a court order two years ago will argue in court this week that she is innocent of smothering her child.

Seizures suffered by Child "U" were blamed on the mother by the courts but may be due to a genetic defect.

BBC One's Real Story has gathered evidence of a "family sickness" resulting in numerous infant deaths among her extended family in Bangladesh.

The new evidence will be heard by the Appeal Court on Wednesday.

Munchausen's

Child "U", now waiting to be adopted, suffered four seizures whilst in the care of her mother - the first at just three weeks old - between August and October 2001.

After the fourth fit, doctors told her parents there would be an investigation as they could not find a medical reason for the attacks and suspected abuse.

Social services placed the baby with her maternal grandmother with parental access.

"I thought they would find out the truth and leave us alone," said the mother, known as "Muntaz", who was suspected by expert witnesses of suffering from Fabricated or Induced Illness - the new broader term for Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy.

Although "Muntaz" displayed classic features of Munchausen's, a condition in which a mother deliberately harms her own baby, she was never formally diagnosed with it.

Muntaz's grandmother Zorada said one of her own children had died

Three neutral doctors looked into her case. The family court noted that she was a poor witness, suffered from post-natal depression and had twice attempted suicide, once aged 13 and again while living with her husband's family.

One could ask, however, whether the court took into account a study by mental health experts which found that Asian women aged 16-24 were three times as likely to kill themselves as their white counterparts because of cultural pressures.

Family history

A three day court hearing found that "Muntaz" could never be trusted alone with her baby again. She has not seen her baby unaccompanied for two years.

When child "U" had had a fifth seizure while out of her mother's care, "Muntaz" and her husband, "Razik", were prompted to begin their own investigations into infant deaths in their extended families.

"My Mum was saying that there had been loads of people in the family who had lost children. Then I was asking my Dad and there were loads on his side, as well."

But judges in the Court of Appeal this March concluded child "U" had been abused. They relied upon the evidence of the original three experts.

"Muntaz" felt her innocence had not be proven as there were no medical records in Bangladesh of the 30 infant deaths she knew of in her family.

Cousin filmed

The Real Story team took a translator to "Muntaz" 's family's village where her grandmother and Aunt described the "family sickness" to them.

"When they are ill they have fever and breathing problems," said her Aunt. "and after one or two days when the fever is very high they get hysteric."

In another village, Real Story cameras filmed one of "Muntaz" 's first cousins, a baby boy called Tareq, when he was suffering a fit.

His jerky limbs, floppy body and blue-green face colour matched the description "Muntaz" had given of her own baby during a seizure.

The footage was shown to Tareq's local GP who confirmed the baby had the family sickness.

Diagnosis 'incomplete'

A Professor of pathology at Dhaka University, Mohammed Kamal , also watched it. He said that it was possible Tareq's defect was genetic, and also that such a problem would be made worse if the parents of the child were related.

Back in the UK, leading paediatric neurologist Dr Richard Appleton said of the evidence:

"Given that Tarek is related to child "U" and given the other extensive family history of febrile seizure and epilepsy, one would have to consider that child U's episodes were not appropriately diagnosed."

The case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

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Real Story: BBC One, Monday, 6 December 2004, 1930 GMT and streamed on the Real Story website.