Justice Minister Alfonso
Bonafede has decided to suspend the director of the women's
section of Rome's Rebibbia prison after an inmate killed her
daughter and critically injured another of her children inside,
sources said Wednesday.
Two other officials have also been suspended in relation to
the case, the sources said.
A 31-year-old German woman serving time for drugs offences
threw both of the children down a flight of steps on Tuesday,
sources said.
The victim was a four-month-old girl while the injured child
is a 20-month-old boy.
Warders' union SPP said "keeping children in jail is
torture".
"This tragedy could have been averted and others must be
averted," said SPP chief Aldo Di Giacomo.
"Children shouldn't be kept in prison: for them it is a
torture; it's not possible for something like this to happen".
The Bambino Gesù hospital said Wednesday that it was running
checks to verify whether the boy is brain dead.
The children's hospital said the small boy was in an
"extremely serious condition" and scans had confirmed he was in
a coma.
The woman said Wednesday: "now my children are free".
"I knew that yesterday the hearing before the re-examination
judges who had to discuss my position was scheduled," she went
on.
"I freed my children, now they are in heaven".
Her comments on what happened in the nursery section of the
jail Tuesday were relayed to reporters by her lawyer, Andrea
Palmiero.
Palmiero said the 33-year-old "appeared aware of what she had
done."
Her six-month-old daughter, Faith, died immediately while the
20-month-old son, Divine, is fighting for his life in a Rome
hospital.
Prosecutors said they were seeking the children's father to
authorise the donation of organs.
"The man can contact the Bambino Gesù management on 06 685
92424, or the Carabinieri of the investigative unit in via Selvi
on 06 489 42931", they said.
The woman was arrested in Rome on August 28 for being in
possession of 10 kilogrammes of marijuana.
She was arrested in flagrante and her arrest is set to be
confirmed by a preliminary investigations judge in the coming
days, judicial sources said.
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