A MELBOURNE father has been found guilty of the manslaughter of his infant son. Baby Izaiah Klamo was 28 days old when he was taken by ambulance to a Melbourne hospital, where he died an hour later on July 27, 2005.
Pathologists found the cause of death was bleeding between the brain and the lining of the skull. After a few hours of deliberations, a Victorian Supreme Court jury today found his father Tomas Klamo, 23, of Melton, guilty of his manslaughter.
The 23-year-old initially looked stunned after the verdict and later said: "I have been wrongly accused. How can you make a verdict that quick." His wife began sobbing following the verdict and was comforted by a family member.
Klamo, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, told police he was watching television and Izaiah had been crying for about 10 minutes when he shook him up to three times, a week before his death. " I can't remember exactly, but I remember it was in the lounge and I just shook him a little harder than normal," Klamo said in a statement to police. " Nothing too full on".
The court heard evidence that apart from that incident, Klamo had not shown any examples of violence towards his son or anybody else and his family considered him to be a good father.
Justice David Harper extended Klamo's bail under strict conditions that he attend a local police station tomorrow and twice on Sunday. He was ordered to return to court for a pre-sentence hearing on Monday.
Source: © 2007 The Sunday Times
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