Mount Prospect father describes shaking son in videotape shown at trial

Ibrahim Kibayasi, in a police videotape played during his first-degree murder trial Tuesday, described to police how happy he was about his girlfriend's pregnancy and how excited he was to have a son, buying him presents every month before he was born.

In the 52-minute videotape, during which he broke down several times, Kibayasi also told how he became frustrated after he lost his job and was unable to find another.

Kibayasi taped the interview with Mount Prospect police several days after Sept. 3, 2009, when authorities say he shook his 5-month-old son Dylan, causing the subdural hematoma which resulted in his death.

In the tape, played on the second day of his trial in Cook County Circuit Court in Rolling Meadows, Kibayasi told police that Dylan had been ill for several days with a decreased appetite, slightly elevated temperature and diarrhea, which he said the baby's pediatrician attributed to a change in formula.

Dylan had slept fitfully the previous night, awoke in the morning and then slept another five hours, said Kibayasi, who cared for Dylan while his girlfriend, the baby's mother, worked. Later that afternoon, Dylan began crying, Kibayasi said in the interview with a Mount Prospect detective and Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Christopher Martin.

He picked the infant up and shook him three or four times, which he demonstrated on the videotape.

“I freaked out,” said a tearful Kibayasi, who told police he put the unconscious baby down and tried to perform CPR. He intended to take the infant to the hospital but after the baby became more active, which he considered a sign of improvement, he and Dylan proceeded to pick up the baby's mother from her job. On the way home, Dylan suffered a seizure, Kibayasi said. The couple called emergency personnel who transported the baby to the hospital, Kibayasi said.

“I didn't want to say what I did because I was feeling ashamed of myself,” said Kibayasi, who admitted on tape that he told neither his girlfriend nor the police about shaking Dylan.

Martin testified that Kibayasi told him he and Dylan had been in a car accident the day before and that Dylan had been at day care and at a relative's house the week before, but that Kibayasi said Dylan didn't exhibit any unusual behavior after the accident or the visits.

Cook County Assistant Medical Examiner Laura Moser testified that Dylan suffered retinal hemorrhaging and a subdural hematoma, a swelling of the brain resulting from either blunt head trauma or an injury involving sudden acceleration or deceleration.

The injuries were likely “acute,” said Moser, meaning they occurred within a few hours to a day before Dylan's death. They could be consistent with shaking, said Moser, who also noted fractures to the baby's ribs which she said could have occurred between seven and 14 days earlier.

However, under cross examination from defense attorney Robert Callahan, Moser — who is not a pediatrician — testified that something other than blunt head trauma can cause such injuries, including cysts, coagulation disorders and injuries sustained at birth.

Testimony continues Wednesday in Rolling Meadows.