WASHINGTON — A Maryland father was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for the 2014 death of his infant son.
Adou Kouadio, 27, of Silver Spring, received the maximum sentence for child abuse resulting in death, said Montgomery County prosecutor Debbie Feinstein.
Last December, a jury found Kouadio guilty of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree child abuse leading to death and one count of second-degree child abuse stemming from the February 2014 death of his 2-month old son.
The baby, Amir, suffered severe injuries and the cause of death was “abusive head trauma,” Feinstein said.
“Basically, the only other situations that have been documented where children have had these types of injuries are either a high-speed motor-vehicle crash, a fall from a building of three stories or more and a massive crush injury,” Feinstein told WTOP.
The diagnosis used to be known as shaken baby syndrome.
According to court documents, Kouadio told police he awakened about midnight Feb. 3, 2014, to the baby’s cries and gave him a bottle and changed his diaper. When he returned 20 minutes later to check up on him, he said he saw blooding coming from the baby’s nose and called 911.
First responders transported the infant to Children’s National Medical Center, where doctors said he was suffering bleeding on the brain, hemorrhaging in both eyes, ligament damage in his neck and other injuries “consistent with inflicted trauma occurring on more than one occasion,” including rib fractures that were weeks old.
The Maryland legislature has since increased the maximum penalty for child abuse resulting in death to a life sentence, which is the same as for first-degree murder, Feinstein said.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
