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A man who threw his 11-month-old son into a river in Manchester was convicted of manslaughter for diminished responsibility.
Zakari Bennett-Eko died after being pulled out of the River Irwell at Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, by the emergency services at 5.15 pm on September 11 of last year.
His father, Zak Bennett-Eko, 23, was seen throwing his son into the river before he walked to a nearby pub, where he was later arrested.
Zakari, 11 months old, drowned. GMP Credit
Bennett-Eko, who was unwell to attend the trial, was said to have paranoid schizophrenia and he believed his son was turning into the devil, a six-day trial was heard in the Nightingale Court that was held at the Lowry Theater.
His defense team argued that due to his mental state, he could not understand that what he was doing was wrong by the standards of ordinary and reasonable people, and that he should not be found guilty.
However, the prosecution said that Bennett-Eko, who had been charged with murder, should be convicted of diminished responsibility homicide.
It took less than three hours for the jury to render its verdict after he withdrew shortly after noon on Monday.
When the verdict was delivered, cries of “yes” were heard from the public gallery.
The court was told that Bennett-Eko had contacted the hospital and the local doctor’s office several times in the days leading up to the incident.
He had asked to be admitted to North Manchester General Hospital on September 8, but left before they saw him, the jury was told.
Emma Blood and her baby Zakari
Bennett-Eko had been diagnosed with cannabis-related psychosis when she was 17 years old and started missing GP appointments after her son was born.
The court was shown text messages in which his girlfriend Emma Blood told her friends that she had kicked in her door, thrown things at her, and claimed that Beyonce was her mother.
In a message, he said: “He is saying that Zakari is not our baby and stuff. One second he is fine, the next minute he goes crazy saying he is going to kill himself.”
Bennett-Eko took her son for a walk in her stroller around 4 p.m. on the day of the incident, while Miss Blood, who was eight months pregnant, was upstairs at her home on River Street.
The prosecution, Rob Hall, opened the case by saying that Ms. Blood had told her partner that he had to start taking care of himself, because she would not be able to take care of him or their two babies.
He said, “It may be that the exchange has put the seed in Zak’s mind that they would be better off without Zakari.”
Emma Blood, here with Zakari, was pregnant with her second child at the time.
Psychiatrist Dr. Inti Qurashi said during his testimony that Bennett-Eko hesitated before throwing his son into the river and thought, “What the hell am I doing?”
Summing up the case, Judge Mr. Fraser said: “Dr. Qurashi said that he considered the hesitation before the baby was thrown into the river as an important point and said that it showed that the defendant knew what he was about to do. it was wrong”.
However, the defendant’s treating physician, Dr. John Crosby, said that Bennett-Eko believed he was throwing the devil into the river at the time.
The case has been adjourned until 9:45 am Tuesday, when Bennett-Eko will be sentenced.
