Harlow mother guilty of murdering baby while on social services plan

Eloddie Goncalves is due to be sentenced in October

A mother who was subject to a social services safety plan has been found guilty of murdering her 11-week-old baby who had multiple injuries.

Emergency services found Malik Goncalves dead at his mother's flat in Harlow, Essex, in August 2020.

A jury found Eloddie Goncalves, 33, guilty of three other charges following a six-week trial.

Her partner Muritala Olaiya-Imam, 37, was found guilty of allowing a child's death.

The pair are due to be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on 20 October.

'Not moving'

"Malik died at the hands of those who should have cared for him most," said Essex Police's Det Ch Insp Stuart Truss, speaking after the trial.

Jurors were told police were previously called to Goncalves's flat on 24 June and officers found her "handling [her child] in a rather unsafe manner, slurring her words, unsteady on her feet".

A social services safety plan was put in place, stipulating that Goncalves, who had mental health issues, was not to drink alcohol and not to be left alone with Malik, and for Olaiya-Imam to contact police if she was under the influence of alcohol.

Goncalves called 999 on the morning of 19 August and said "my son is dead, he's not moving" and told emergency services "somebody came in the house because I left the window open".

Olaiya-Imam was not at the scene when paramedics arrived, and jurors heard he "appeared immediately to go into shock" when he got there and was told about Malik's death.

The baby was pronounced dead at the scene and a post-mortem examination revealed 21 rib fractures, broken wrists and his skull fractured in two places.

Ms Goncalves told emergency services someone "came in the house" in Joyners Field via her window

Following her arrest, the mother was asked to provide a urine sample for drug and alcohol analysis, but she and her partner provided a sample that mixed both their urines.

However, a blood sample revealed "constituents of cannabis" and that she was one and a half times over the legal drink-drive limit.

The trial at Chelmsford Crown Court lasted more than six weeks

Goncalves was also convicted of cruelty to a person under 16 years, assaulting an emergency worker and perverting the course of justice.

During the trial, her barrister had suggested that another suspect - described as a "weirdo" who lived in her apartment block - could have in fact killed Malik, or that he had suffered shaken baby syndrome and ultimately died accidentally.

Olaiya-Imam, whose address cannot be reported for legal reasons, was found guilty of allowing the death of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 years and perverting the course of justice.

Jurors gave unanimous guilty verdicts after deliberating for nearly six hours.

He told authorities he was the biological father, and he was named on the birth certificate, but subsequent DNA tests revealed he was not a parent.