Evidence raises doubt over Sofina Nikat infanticide charge

QUESTIONS have been raised over medical evidence that led to Sofina Nikat’s murder charge being downgraded to infanticide.

Sofina Nikat. Picture: Nicole Garmston

MEDICAL evidence cast doubt over whether a mother spared jail despite killing her toddler then claiming the little girl was abducted should have qualified to have her murder charge downgraded.

There were “difficulties of consistency” between the psychiatric assessments of Sofina Nikat who smothered her daughter Sanaya before rolling her into a Heidelberg West creek, a Supreme Court found.

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Sofina Nikat and baby Sanaya Shaib

The 24-year-old mother was this week found guilty of infanticide, which applies when a woman kills her child under two years of age while mentally disturbed as a result of the birth.

But the court found Nikat’s mental disorder began two years before Sanaya was born.

Nikat admitted killing the 14-month old in April 2016 and said she had believed the child was possessed with an evil spirit and would be in a “better place”.

The mother had initially told police a barefoot African man smelling of alcohol had snatched her daughter from her pram along Darebin Creek trail.

That the killer has escaped a jail term on a 12-month Community Corrections Order has angered the toddler’s relatives who remain “haunted” by the disturbing crime.

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Aunt Zahraa Sahib said it was unfair they had lost their “bubbly” little girl.

“(The outcome) is really disappointing and upsetting for our family,” Ms Sahib said.

Opinions of whether Nikat’s disturbed mental state was a result of Sanaya’s birth differed, and at one time the trial was delayed when one medical practitioner had a “change of mind”.

Sanaya Sahib at 14 months, with her mother Sofina Nikat

Judge Lex Lasry accepted a forensic psychiatrist finding that Nikat had a “mild-moderate depressive episode” and a low to average IQ.

The assessment found the young woman’s troubles began when she moved from Fiji with her husband Abdul Sameer Sahib, whom she had been paired with in an arranged marriage when she was 19.

The court heard the marriage was rocky and a pregnancy ended in miscarriage, with Nikat returning to Fiji for a short time.

The relationship further disintegrated when she was seven months pregnant with Sanaya and she applied for an intervention order against her husband and his family but later had it dropped.

Sofina Nikat, 24, on her way to court. Picture: Nicole Garmston

It’s understood there was conflict in the family over expectations of the young wife’s household duties and she was finding married life in her new country isolating.

The couple reunited in 2015 but Mr Sahib left in July that year.

“From there on your life became complicated,” Justice Lex Lasry said in sentencing.

“In the two weeks prior to the child’s death she was crying regularly and you were struggling to cope.

“You seemed to blame her for making your life so miserable.”

Nikat struggled with single motherhood as Sanaya became increasingly clingy and teary, prompting her family in Fiji to seek guidance from a local imam.

“The accused’s parents explained that the priest had determined that the deceased had negative energy and was possessed by an evil spirit,” police said in their summary.

Sketch of Sofina Nikat in court.

The court heard Nikat spoke “numerous times” of killing herself and her child.

The concerns were not raised with a doctor or authorities.

She did come close to having her parenting formally questioned two weeks prior to the death when child protection was notified Sanaya had been taken to hospital with bruises and injuries consistent with shaking.

But doctors at the Austin Hospital found the toddler had seizures after suffering an illness, ruling out suspicious circumstances.

The prosecution accepted the plea to the charge of infanticide based on evidence given by Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist Dr Danny Sullivan.

“The mood disorder would have begun shortly after your arrival in Australia and was made worse by your pregnancy, the separation from your husband and the stress of raising your child,” Justice Lasry said.