Former asylum seeker accused of killing son

A former asylum seeker allegedly lifted his baby son out of bed and took him into another room where the child was beaten to death, a murder trial heard today.

Yusif Ali Abdi, a Somalian with an address at The Elms, College Road, Clane, Co Kildare has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 20-month-old son, Nathan Baraka Andrew Ali on April 2001 17 at College Rd, Clane.

Opening the case for prosecution, Mr Michael Durack SC said the State Pathologist Dr John Harbison would tell the court that the toddler died from a fractured skull and brain damage.

This was caused by multiple severe blows to the head.

In evidence, the child's mother, Ms Amanda Bailey, said she and the baby were asleep in a bedroom in the first floor apartment at College Road when the attack happened between 4.20 and 4.30am on April 17, 2001.

She had lived there with Mr Abdi - who she had married in May 1999 - but had returned to live with her parents because of his increasingly "paranoid" behaviour and his refusal to seek medical attention.

Ms Bailey, a 29-year-old university graduate from south Dublin, told the court she met the accused in a Dublin nightclub in May 1998.

He had entered the country in June 1997 and applied for refugee status but was refused.

She told the court that when he arrived in Ireland he was suffering from post traumatic stress but it was not something they spoke about much.

The month after Nathan's birth in August 1999, the accused was granted a "green card" and subsequently was granted refugee status.

Ms Bailey told the jury that in November 1999 the accused was involved in an altercation with gardai after he stepped out in front of a garda transit van near Dublin's Phoenix Park.

He was charged with assaulting a garda and a traffic offence and was convicted and sentenced to 100 hours community service, which he served in a Dublin mosque.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Tom O'Connell SC, Ms Bailey said this had a traumatic effect on the accused.

He became increasingly paranoid and became convinced the gardai were going to kill him because of the way the gardai had treated him.

Mr Abdi was granted refugee status and when "it is violated by the country that's supposed to protect you that it is more traumatic" than it would be for anyone else, she said.

The accused also became obsessed with the Islamic faith following his time in the mosque. Ms Bailey told the court it became "a constant battle" to get the accused to seek help for his mental health.

She left the accused on a number of occasions but subsequently returned. The last occasion was in March 2001.

Ms Bailey told the court that the accused was a very loving and affectionate "hands on" father.

"I never felt it was only me looking after Nathan," she said.

On 16 April 2001, she took the child to see his father at College Rd intending to return to her parents house in Dublin that evening.

However, she agreed to stay overnight after the accused "swore on the Koran" that he would allow her to leave the following morning.

He went out to get money from the ATM machine and when he returned he appeared agitated. He told her some children shouted "nig nog" at him.

Ms Bailey said they spent the evening playing football with Nathan and watching TV.

Later, they "discussed me converting to Islam again...and I think we discussed custody", she said.

Ms Bailey told the jury she and Nathan went to bed in the spare bedroom but she woke up at around 4.20am.

She went to the bathroom and described what she thought was a "thud" repeated two or three times coming from the living room which was locked.

She climbed onto the baby's chair and through a fanlight over the door saw Nathan's arm. She also heard the accused ringing for what she thought was an ambulance.

He was standing facing a prayer mat. When he unlocked the door she saw the baby lying on the couch.

"I went straight to the couch and knew something was seriously wrong," she said.

She lifted him and noticed the back of his head was "soft".

"I tried to feel for his pulse" but there was none, she said.

The baby was taken to Naas General Hospital and pronounced dead at around 5.30am the court heard.

Mr Abdi was arrested at the hospital.

The trial continues tomorrow.