Grandmother of accused child killer says her babies also died

THE grandmother of a woman accused of killing three of her own babies yesterday told a court how she herself had lost five children in early infancy.

Surajben Patel, 80, from a village in the Gujarat region of India, said five of her 12 children had died within a month-and-a-half of being born.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mrs Patel told Reading Crown Court that she could not explain why her children had died.

Mrs Patel is the maternal grandmother of Trupti Patel, 35, a qualified pharmacist who is accused of murdering her two baby sons and baby daughter in separate incidents between 1997 and 2001.

All three of Trupti Patel's children collapsed suddenly at the Patel family home in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and later died in hospital.

Mrs Patel's grandmother told the trial that the first of her babies to die, her first child a baby girl who was born when she was aged just 18 in 1941, died just one hour after being born one month prematurely.

Mrs Patel said her second child, a boy, died suddenly in bed at home just six days after being born.

She told the hearing the boy had not been ill during his short life and that she had no idea why he died.

Mrs Patel said her third child, a baby girl, also died just 15 days after being born.

However, she said the baby girl had red boils all over her body in the two days prior to her death, although she still could not explain why she had died.

The court heard how Mrs Patel's ninth child, another baby girl, died at home just six days after being born in 1950 when Mrs Patel was living in Bombay.

Defending, Kieran Coonan QC asked Mrs Patel whether her ninth child had been unwell prior to her death.

"Did she appear to be well or ill before she died?" he asked.

"Her health was good before she died," said Mrs Patel.

"Did you know why she died?" asked Mr Coonan.

"I do not know," Mrs Patel said.

Mrs Patel then told the court how her last child, another baby girl, had died suddenly a month-and-a-half after being born. She said her baby girl had a high temperature just before she died but otherwise her health was good.

She added that she did not ask for or receive any medical explanation for why her 12th child died, even though doctors had attempted to save her.

Mrs Patel said that there was no hospital or doctors in the village where she lived and that the nearest hospital was a day's train ride away in Bombay.

She said that none of the deaths of her children had been investigated.

The hearing was adjourned until today.