HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The father of a 1-year-old child who was allegedly beaten to death pleaded not guilty to child abuse charges.
On Monday morning, Paul John Tuncap Cruz appeared in the Superior Court of Guam.
Cruz’s appearance stems from an indictment filed against him charging him with child abuse in connection to the death of his 1-year-old son.
According to court documents, his son was allegedly punched by his girlfriend and the mother of the child, Giltinan Aldan Ramangmou, who faces murder charges. Cruz allegedly witnessed Ramangmou punching the child and saw that the 1-year-old’s front teeth were missing and that his eyes appeared swollen shut and Cruz told Ramangmou to call the police.
Cruz, although he was not charged as Ramangmou’s co-defendant in the magistrate’s complaint, was indicted as a co-defendant Nov. 9 and made his first appearance in court Monday morning before Judge Vernon Perez.
Cruz was scheduled to answer to charges of child abuse and failure to provide assistance, which he pleaded not guilty to, according to his attorney, Peter Santos, who works for the Alternate Public Defender office.
Cruz remains released on a $3,000 personal recognizance bond and waived his right to a speedy trial, Santos told The Guam Daily Post.
Santos added he will be moving to sever Cruz’s case from Ramangmou, which if allowed by Perez, would mean they’d have separate trials.
Ramangmou
After Cruz’s arraignment hearing, Ramangmou also appeared before Perez for her first status hearing since pleading not guilty to criminal charges last week.
Ramangmou was charged with murder as a first-degree felony, aggravated assault as a second-degree felony and child abuse as a third-degree felony.
Ramangmou’s charges stem from allegedly punching her 1-year-old son, who was later found by officers with the Guam Police Department to be pulseless, breathless and with multiple severe head injuries.
When met by the officers, Ramangmou was allegedly crying hysterically and yelling, “I should’ve taken him to the hospital, I’m so sorry, God!”
Ramangmou, according to court documents, told officers the child was on the bed but that he had fallen on his face. She said she treated the child by putting ice on his head.
Police, however, saw the boy had “multiple severe head injuries” and that “rigor mortis” and “livor mortis” had set in, which suggested several hours had passed before the authorities were contacted. The complaint stated that GPD was contacted about three hours after Cruz told Ramangmou to call.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jeffrey Nine also conducted an initial assessment of the child’s injuries and found them to be consistent with “battered baby syndrome,” and he said the child had injuries similar to that of a “child involved in a vehicle collision at a high rate of speed,” the complaint said.
The Guam Judicial Center in Hagåtña on Friday, June 2, 2023.
