The five hospital workers who were arrested in connection with the accidental feeding of ethanol to seven babies, killing one, were released on bail on Thursday.
The five appeared in court in northern Nicosia on Thursday morning, with the police’s representative explaining that all five stand accused of causing death by negligence and carelessness.
He recounted parts of the timeline of events, explaining that the five had been arrested on October 27 and first brought to court the following day, where it was heard that a five-litre plastic water bottle which was thought to contain water actually contained ethanol, and the contents of the bottle were then fed to the babies with their formula.
He then told the court that three of the six surviving babies had been discharged on Wednesday.
Evaluating the status of the five suspects, he said there was now “no possibility” of three of them unduly influencing the police’s ongoing investigation, and as such requested that they be released on bail.
The judge acquiesced and ordered that the trio be released on bails of 200,000TL (€5,423), provided that each can find three guarantors willing to stump up a guarantee of one million TL (€27,115). They have all also been banned from leaving the north until their next hearing.
The two remaining suspects, the nurse who had put the ethanol in the kettle to boil and the nurse who had fed the baby using the ethanol, remained in the dock for a while longer, with the judge saying it is possible they will be tried separately for their parts in the incident.
The police representative said their investigation was now completed, and that nearly 70 statements had been taken. He added that there is now no possibility of either suspect unduly influencing the wider investigation and requested that they, too, be released on bail.
He also said an internal disciplinary investigation against the two nurses had been launched at northern Nicosia’s emergency hospital, where the incident occurred, and added that as such, both nurses have been suspended from their duties.
The prosecution lawyer said an additional autopsy report into the baby who died, which will be compiled in Istanbul, will “shed more light on the case”, and agreed with the police representative’s opinion that the two nurses should be released on bail.
The defence lawyer at this point intervened to say some nurses had said Mihrimah Toymuradov, the 20-day-old baby who died, had undergone an “incorrect” course of treatment, and asked whether a post-mortem chest x-ray had been carried out.
The judge ordered that the two nurses also be released on bails of 200,000TL, but with the condition that they find not three but four guarantors willing to stump up a guarantee of a million TL.
The defence lawyer’s line of questioning regarding a chest x-ray comes after he had spoken at the last hearing of a potential “incorrect or delayed intervention” when Toymuradov’s condition worsened after being fed ethanol.
At the time, questions were also raised regarding the conduct of the doctors on duty, with the defence lawyer stating that Toymuradov “would still be alive” if allowed to breathe naturally through her nose without being connected to a ventilator, and that the ventilator to which she was connected “was not working properly” and “had not been correctly calibrated”.
The police launched an investigation into the ventilator to determine whether it would cause any harm to the body in the short term if it was faulty or connected incorrectly.
The lawyer said, “the nurse in charge stated that the baby expired because she was connected to the wrong ventilator”.
Meanwhile, accusations remain to be answered by the north’s ‘health minister’ Hakan Dincyurek. He was reported to the police over Toymuradov’s death, with it having been alleged that the incident was “concealed for a long time”.
