Family caring for battered Delaware County infant

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A 1-year-old Delaware County baby who was allegedly battered by his mother’s boyfriend has now been hospitalized for three weeks.

Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien said Wednesday that the child, 1-year-old Phoenyx Moore, is now being cared for by other family members at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

The boy’s mother, Natasha M. Moore, 28, of 1163 Bayridge Drive, Lewis Center, and her boyfriend, Abdurahman Mohamed Abdurahman, 23, of 12 Tabliore Loop, Delaware, are being held in the Delaware County Jail, awaiting an April 12 trial.

Prosecutors allege that Abdurahman hit the baby’s head against a wall several times on Jan. 13 and caused serious injuries.

A grand-jury indictment for Moore states that Moore created a “substantial risk to the health or safety of the child, by violating a duty of care, protection or support” because she did not stop the abuse.

O’Brien confirmed Wednesday that Abdurahman is not the boy’s biological father and said the boy’s biological father had been involved with the treatment of the baby at the hospital. O’Brien added that Phoenyx’s older brother was also being cared for by family members.

O’Brien said the case was reported to law enforcement after the couple brought the boy to the hospital. Prosecutors said Moore and Abdurahman do not have prior criminal records.

The case will be tried before Delaware County Common Pleas Judge David Gormley on April 12 and 13. The case was originally brought before Judge Everett Krueger but, after the arraignment, Krueger asked to transfer the case to Gormley’s court because he knows a relative of one of the involved parties and wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Court documents allege that on Jan. 13 Abdurahman caused “severe head trauma” to the baby by “striking his head against a bedroom wall at least five times.”

Court documents, filed by detectives at the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, said the baby suffered a right occipital fracture, subdural hematoma — a pool of blood between the brain and its casing — and a right cranial fracture with a midline shift.

During an interview with detectives on Jan. 13, Abdurahman said he and Moore were the only people to have been in custody of the boy for the previous 48 hours.

Court documents state that the neurosurgeon who operated on the baby at Nationwide Children’s Hospital categorized the trauma as “black brain,” which can only be caused by sustaining a blow to the head or being shaken, and is not accidental trauma. According to court documents filed on Jan. 14, the doctor added that the injury was sustained within the previous 48 hours.

Abdurahman appeared in Delaware County Common Pleas Court on Jan. 25 and entered a not-guilty plea to a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony; and two felony counts of endangering children. Bond for Abdurahman was set at $400,000.

Moore appeared in court on Jan. 27 and entered a not-guilty plea to two counts of endangering children, third-degree felonies. Bond was set at $100,000.

Representatives from Nationwide Children’s Hospital said Wednesday they were not permitted to provide any information about the child or his condition.

Abdurahman
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/02/web1_Abdurahman-1.jpgAbdurahman

Moore
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/02/web1_moore-1.jpgMoore

By Glenn Battishill

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Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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