A Sunnyside man was charged with killing his 5-month-old daughter while she was crying.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Jorge Baque, 36, was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. His daughter, Alaia Baque, died on July 30, 2016.
Jorge Baque went to check on Alaia at their home on Greenpoint Avenue at about 2 a.m. on July 30, the criminal complaint said. According to Baque, he held his daughter until she stopped crying and then placed her facedown in her crib. At about 6:30 a.m., he went to go check on her and found that her lips were blue and she was unresponsive.
Brown called this a “tragic and horrible case.”
“The victim is a baby whose short life was filled with suffering and pain allegedly at the hands of the very person who should have been protecting her and keeping her safe,” he said. “The defendant in this case is the baby’s father. Instead of comforting and soothing her as she cried, the defendant is accused of causing severe head injury, bleeding on her brain and severe hemorrhaging in the back of her eyes. This didn’t have to happen and shouldn’t have happened.”
Baque is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court and he faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
