MONTREAL - A 13-year-old Longueuil girl died Saturday night as a result of injuries she sustained Wednesday when police say her 71-year-old father slapped her and she went into a coma.Edmonton Journal
Police said Mousaa Sidime, who was arrested for aggravated assault and has been detained since the incident, could now face a more serious charge when he appears in court Tuesday. The girl, whom neighbours identified as Noutene Sidime, was found by emergency responders shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday at her family dwelling on Chambly Rd. in Old Longueuil when the elderly father called police to say he had slapped his daughter, Longueuil police Constable Mark David said.
“When we got there the girl was bleeding around her nose and she has been in a coma ever since,” David said.
Shocked neighbours Monday described the girl as a "ray of light" who played happily with their children and used to give hugs to some of the other mothers when she came home from school. But neighbour Linda Robert said Noutene had been quieter in the last two years. Her father was demanding, Robert said, and could be heard sometimes yelling at the children or his wife. On the evening that she was struck, neighbours said her father was calling in to recite her prayers, as he often did. She was reluctant to go, as she often was, neighbours said.
"Even when she was young, she hated going in for her prayers," Robert said.
It's so incredibly sad that one would value the physical safety of their child less than their allegiance to a religion.
