Mukzameel Ali holding 10-month-old Mustafa Ali who police say died a violent death on Saturday.
Mukzameel Ali holding 10-month-old Mustafa Ali who police say died a violent death on Saturday.
The young father of a 10-month-old baby who died a violent death in Te Kūiti says he may have caused some of the injuries that ultimately led to his infant son’s death while administering CPR.
However, the injuries were not intentional, Mukzameel Ali said.
The 22-year-old has spoken out again a day after police revealed in a press conference that baby Mustafa Ali suffered violent and blunt-force trauma on Saturday - the day he was rushed to hospital.
Speaking out again today, he told Stuff he may have caused some of the child’s injuries that day when he was trying to save his son, who had suddenly become unwell and appeared to be choking on vomit.
“The only thing I was doing - like, I was trying my best to save my son. That’s all I can say,” he said.
In an earlier interview on Monday, Ali told Stuff he had started tapping on his son’s back and bottom in a bid to try to wake him.
“If that could’ve happened from me, from doing it ... but that wasn’t on purpose. I was trying to save him.”
Police have launched a homicide investigation into the baby’s death.
Ali said he was worried about what might happen, but acknowledged he was ready to accept any consequences.
However, he stressed that what he did was not intentional.
At a press conference yesterday, Detective Graham Pitkethley said a post-mortem examination on the little boy would take several days due to the extent of his injuries.
Authorities had also spoken to baby Mustafa’s parents. However, Pitkethley said that there were inconsistencies in their stories about how their son came to be injured.
It was also revealed that police knew of baby Mustafa due to a previous incident that led to what was described as “non-accidental injuries” to the infant in October.
Oranga Tamariki has also been involved with the family.
