Indictment: Infant died after area mother violently shook him
Published 12:38 am Friday, February 17, 2023
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BEAUMONT — A Jefferson County grand jury indicted a Beaumont woman that police say shook her 5-month old baby so violently that he died after a month’s stay in a hospital.
Quenisha Antoinette Hawkins, 27, was indicted this week on charges of injury to a child.
Injuries included subarachnoid and subdural brain hemorrhages, severe bilateral detached retinas and severe retinal hemorrhage and a number of bone fractures throughout his body, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Beaumont police were flagged down Sept. 22 at an apartment at 2950 S. 8th St., where a 5-month old child was in cardio-pulmonary arrest.
JaKaiden Shaw
Police performed CPR until the child was brought to a local hospital and ultimately flown to a Galveston hospital. The child was hospitalized for a month and died on Oct. 30.
The forensic medical examination concluded the abusive trauma was inflicted on the child more than once, over a period of time, with the ultimate injury, which caused the severe medical distress relieved to have occurred within an approximate 10-day period prior to Sept. 29.
The injury is believed to stem from violent shaking for a sustained time.
The abuse trauma inflicted on the child caused a severe bacterial infection, sepsis, which was symptomatic for a period of at least eight days during which the child was reportedly denied medical treatment, according to the document.
Police contend the child’s mother as the only one with perpetual access, care, custody and control over the child during the time period the injury was inflicted as well as when the child was symptomatic and in need of immediate medical care.
Police also contend Hawkins lied repeatedly during the investigation.
Later, she allegedly made a statement saying she was aware of the child’s significant symptoms caused by his injuries and did not obtain medical care for him.
Hawkins is still in the county jail on two $500,000 bonds for injury to a child.
An indictment is not a final conviction of guilt; it is only a ruling by the grand jury that allows the district attorney’s office to proceed with a criminal case.
