HALIFAX - A mother whose baby died two years ago says she saw the infant's head snap back when her former boyfriend shook the child, one of two incidents of mistreatment Jane Gomes told his trial she witnessed.
Gomes testified that Ashiqur Rahman became angry about their daughter's crying as the couple were changing her diaper on July 15, 2009.
Gomes, 25, said Rahman shouted at the infant to stop crying as he shook her.
"Ashiqur grabbed her two feet together and her hands together and shook three or four times and said, 'Stop, stop now,' " said Gomes, holding her clenched hands apart to demonstrate what she alleged happened.
"She was lying on the bed but her head flipped back, tilted back."
Rahman, 25, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault in the July 2009 death of the couple's seven-week-old daughter Aurora Breakthrough.
Gomes pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life and received a conditional discharge with six months of probation.
She said the first time she became aware of Rahman mistreating the child was on June 29, 2009, about a month before Aurora died.
At the time, Gomes said she had briefly left Aurora with Rahman while she went grocery shopping. Gomes said when she returned, Rahman told her he slapped Aurora on the face to stop her from crying.
"He said to me, 'She was crying and crying and I tried to stop her. She wouldn't stop so I slapped her,' " Gomes told the judge-only trial.
Gomes testified that about a week later, Rahman lost his temper again when Aurora awoke and started to cry.
She testified in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia that the couple was arguing about a hospital bill when he pushed her away from Aurora and slapped the baby with his palm and the back of his hand.
"Ashiqur said, 'Why does she cry so much? Why doesn't she stop? She's crying for nothing.' "
A neuropathologist has previously testified that Aurora suffered extensive brain injuries prior to her death.
Gomes told the court she deeply regretted leaving Rahman alone with the baby after the June 29 incident, and she said she should have left him.
"I wake up every morning thinking about it. I go to bed every night thinking about it. I just made a terrible mistake when I listened to Ashiqur and believed him and stayed there," she said.
Defence lawyer Donald Murray asked if Gomes had ever seen Rahman squeeze the chest of the baby, and she replied she hadn't.
Gomes said it was rare for her to leave the child alone with Rahman, other than when she went to the bathroom or went out to run quick errands.
Court has heard that Aurora was admitted to hospital on July 23, 2009. Gomes said doctors told her the baby was suffering from a severe brain hemorrhage.
Gomes said that she went with Rahman to the intensive care unit where the infant was on a ventilator. She asked to hold the baby and kissed her on the forehead.
She said it was the last time she saw the child. The next day, the couple was arrested. Aurora was taken off life-support on July 27 while they were in custody.
Weeping in the witness box, Gomes said she didn't learn that her child had been buried until a police officer told her on Aug. 5. She said it was the same day she told police of the slapping and shaking incidents after an officer informed her the child had several broken bones, as well as the brain hemorrhage.
After she completed her jail sentence in April, Gomes said she returned to Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., and has been working to complete her degree in computer science. She said she's been supported by a retired female Baptist minister and a group of women in the town who helped her purchase a gravestone for Aurora's unmarked grave.
