Newborn baby murdered by Aldershot mother hours after birth, prosecutors say

A newborn girl was murdered by her care worker mother not long after she was born behind a tree, prosecutors have said.

The baby is believed to have lived for less than six hours, and suffered horrific injuries including multiple skull fractures.

Her body was discovered by a gardener in a park in Aldershot, Hampshire, several days later, on May 19 2017, a court heard.

On Wednesday, jurors saw X-rays of the head injuries suffered by the unnamed baby.

Babita Rai, 24, of Reeves Road in Aldershot, appeared for trial at Winchester Crown Court after denying murder and infanticide.

Opening the case, prosecutor Adam Feest QC told jurors that Rai had given birth to the baby some time between May 15 and May 16.

He told the court: “Within a very short time of birth the baby suffered multiple fractures to her skull with associated internal bleeding and brain swelling.

“Those injuries were the result of multiple blunt force impacts and/or a significant or sustained crushing injury.”

The injuries, the prosecutor said, were “deliberately inflicted” and could not have been caused accidentally during labour or by the baby falling on the floor.

After the body was found, police set about trying to trace the mother and spoke to Rai.

Mr Feest said: “She was arrested and interviewed under caution by the police and during a series of interviews she answered ‘no comment’, which she is entitled to do, to all the questions asked to her about the birth and death of her child.

“It is the Crown’s case that Babita Rai is responsible for the murder of her child,” he said.

The court heard it is “unclear” if she was alone or “acting in concert” with another person at the time.

The trial continues.