Mother ‘threw her new child out window of third-floor flat as father was in kitchen making child components’, courtroom hears

An 18-day-old baby girl suffered a fatal head injury when she was allegedly thrown out of window by her mother, a court has heard.

Baby Mariam plunged from a sash window in her family’s third-floor flat in Westminster, central London, on Saturday.

On Wednesday, her mother Zahira Byjaouane, 43, was due to appear at the Old Bailey, charged with her murder, but was unable to attend the hearing.

Outlining the facts, prosecutor Philip McGhee said the defendant’s husband had called 999 at 7.30am on Saturday and reported that a child had fallen from a window.

London Ambulance Service and police attended within minutes and found baby Mariam lying on a concrete surface between the block of flats on Great Peter Street and a high metal railing.

The baby’s father was present in the flat but was said to have been in the kitchen making baby formula when the defendant allegedly threw the baby from a sash window.

Zahira Byjaouane (pictured), 43, has been charged with murdering her 18-day-old daughter

Police at the scene on Horseferry Road in Westminster on March 14

Mr McGhee said the husband had run outside and tried unsuccessfully to reach Mariam before returning inside and calling 999.

Mariam was taken to hospital in a ‘critical condition’, having fallen about 10 metres, or 32 feet, from the upstairs window, the court was told. 

She died in hospital at 9am having suffered a fracture to the skull, Mr McGhee said. Police went inside the flat and found Byjaouane sitting on a bed.

Byjaouane was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and then charged with murder the following day.

During the hearing, Judge Mark Lucraft KC set a timetable for the case with a plea hearing on June 3 and a provisional 10-day trial before him from February 15 2027.

The judge remanded the defendant into custody.