Dad cleared over baby daughter's death

"The autopsy results show that the cause of death was an acute virus infection which caused pneumonia and myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle," said prosecutor Pia Åsberg to the Nerikes Allehanda (NA) daily.

The father has been in custody since the beginning of September suspected of aggravated assault against the dead girl's twin sister. Both girls had injuries that could have been caused by physical abuse.

”But I can't prove who has caused these injuries,” Åsberg said.

The young couple from Örebro in central Sweden, both in their twenties, had twins in June.

Because the father had a long criminal record, as well as a history of psychiatric problems, the couple and their daughters were placed in supervised accommodation for the first few months.

In August one of the girls was found lifeless next to her sister in the bed.

The parents claimed that they had found her that way, and police and an on-call doctor called to the scene and pronounced the baby girl dead.

Both parents were subsequently brought in for questioning and following the initial interrogation, authorities decided that the mother would be let go while a warrant for the father's arrest was issued, on suspicion of aggravated assault and possible manslaughter.

However, although the autopsy revealed broken ribs and injuries to the neck, neither were serious enough to be the cause of her death. The twin that is still alive had multiple skeletal fractures.

”Someone has clearly caused these injuries but it is impossible to prove who did,” Åsberg said to NA.

According to Åsberg an extensive police investigation has been conducted into the death of the girl, with information collated from various instances.

”As the autopsy clearly shows that it is a secondary infection after a virus that caused her death, there is no longer any suspicion of manslaughter and when it comes to aggravated assault there is no evidence in either case,” Åsberg told the paper.