Croydon couple jailed for abuse of son, two

Pic: Cackhanded

A father and step-mother from Croydon were jailed yesterday after being found guilty of child cruelty against their two-year-old son.

Gnagne Sangare, 27, the child’s step-mother was sentenced to four years and her husband, Adama Sangare, 36 imprisoned for eight months after both were found guilty of five counts of child cruelty at Croydon Crown Court.

The couple, from Winterbourne Road, Thornton Heath was charged with neglect of their son Mohammed Diarra, now aged three, after he had to be taken to hospital in March and given CPR by staff after he had stopped breathing.

Doctors at Mayday hospital in Croydon ran tests on then two-year-old Mohammed and discovered severe brain injuries and had to transfer him to specialists at Kings College Hospital. Further tests showed that Mohammed had suffered subdural hemorrhages, a laceration to his liver and transected pancreas, leading staff to contact the police.

Despite further injuries, including a fracture to his right leg and past evidence of broken ribs,  Mrs Sngare told police she had no idea of how her son-in-law could have sustained such extensive injuries. Even Mr Sangare gave no explanation when questioned and both were charged in September 2010 with three counts of neglect, with a late charge added in regard to the child’s brain injuries.

Gnagne Sangare was found guilty of all four charges last month, however her husband was only found guilty of the charge relating to Mohammed’s broken ribs and was found not guilty of neglect for the stomach injuries, brain trauma and broken leg.

Detective Sergeant James Willis, from Scotland Yard’s Child Abuse Investigation Team said: “This small child was horribly neglected by these parents and had suffered horrendous injuries. It is hard to grasp why and parent, even as a step-parent, would want to treat a small vulnerable child so abhorrently.

Leave a Reply