A Cook County circuit judge Tuesday acquitted a Wheeling woman of murder in the 2000 death of her 2-year-old niece.
Judge John Scotillo said someone had intentionally harmed Angie Farag but prosecutors had failed to prove Afaf Farag was guilty.
Farag, who sat still during 16 months of court appearances, convulsed with sobs after hearing the verdict. She rushed at Scotillo as he left the bench, arms outstretched, before sheriff’s deputies stopped her. Farag yelled, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, judge.”
Since a neighbor saw Farag running out of her house with the lifeless child in her arms on Oct. 4, 2000, Farag has said the girl fell down stairs. Prosecutors arrested Farag nearly a year after the death and charged her with murder, based on several medical experts’ conclusion that the child had died of “acceleration-deceleration syndrome,” which used to be called shaken baby syndrome.
In closing arguments Tuesday , Assistant State’s Atty. Cathy Nauheimer said weblike hemorrhaging in the girl’s skull could only have been caused by repeated and violent shaking by another person. Autopsy results showed the girl had brain hemorrhage three weeks before her death and new hemorrhage 36 hours before she died.
Defense attorney Robert Aronson said the medical testimony didn’t dispute Farag’s contention that the baby fell down the stairs.
Farag told the same story when police first arrived and during two subsequent interviews with investigators. She said she heard a thud on the stairway while feeding her daughter in the kitchen, then found her niece at the bottom of the stairs.
Farag, who is from Egypt, used a native custom to try to revive the girl, first spraying perfume, then cutting an onion under her nose. Police took a cut onion and perfume from Farag’s home, Aronson said. Farag had been baby-sitting for her niece for about two hours when the girl died.
In his ruling, Scotillo said even prosecutors’ medical experts couldn’t narrow the time of fatal injury to less than 36 hours. “When did this injury occur? Who did it?” Scotillo said. “These are questions left unanswered.”
The murder investigation cost Farag custody of her daughters, ages 20 months and 5 years. She will attempt to regain custody Feb. 4. Her husband, Hatem, said the murder charge left his wife extremely depressed and unable to eat. He said he was extremely relieved.
“Every day we come to court, we don’t know if she is coming home or going to jail,” he said.
