By Mark Hallum
A Bayside man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing his 4-month-old son in 2014. The Queens district attorney’s office said the act of abuse, which resulted in the multiple skull fracture, was more than enough to sentence the man who pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2016 to second-degree manslaughter and assault.
Jagsheer Singhm, 30, had been left alone with the child, Nevin Jandu, at their home at 205-40 Brian Crescent on the evening of Dec. 19, 2014 when the mother went to her job as a radiologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, DA Richard Brown said.
According to the criminal complaint, when Dr. Reena Malhotra got back home from her shift at the hospital the next morning, she went to bed without checking on Jandu.
The DA said Singh admitted to using an object to inflict injuries on the infant while the mother was away. Singh had told investigators the baby had fallen off the changing table, a detail he kept from his wife at the time, the complaint said. But sometime later, he found the baby having trouble breathing, Brown said. The next morning, Jandu was found to be unresponsive and still having difficulty breathing. The child was taken to Flushing Hospital, then to Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Doctors determined Jandu had suffered extensive brain injury from lack of oxygen and retinal hemorrhages.
Several days later, Nevin Jandu was dead.
“As a father, the defendant’s job was to protect and nurture his helpless, innocent son,” Brown said. “Instead, he assaulted his son, causing skull fractures and widespread brain injury that ultimately resulted in the child’s death. As a result, the sentence imposed by the court is more than warranted.”
According to the DA, doctors said the injuries were inconsistent with a fall from the changing table, which would have been about 4 feet from the ground.
Singh was originally facing 25 years in prison for the death of his infant son with Brown pushing for more time behind bars for the Bayside man.
“The baby is in grave condition and if he does not survive, the charges will be upgraded,” Brown said in 2014.
The Nov. 15 sentencing hearing determined that Singh will serve a sentence of 18 years for assault and a concurrent five to 15 year indeterminate term for manslaughter.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
