‘They were meant to protect him’: Evil mother and father found guilty of murdering their three-month-old baby boy
An abusive mother and father were found guilty of murdering their 13-week-old baby, who was found unresponsive in their home last year.
Klevi Pirjani, 37, and her partner Nivalda Santos Pirjani, 34, of Seacombe, Wirral, were found guilty of murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and grievous bodily harm at Liverpool Crown Court today.
This statement came after the couple were charged the morning after their baby boy collapsed and died from a traumatic brain injury on November 24, 2024.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said three-month-old Miguel was “completely dependent on his parents for his well-being, but the parents were responsible for the murder and did nothing to prevent it.”
The child’s father called emergency services at 11.57am and told call handlers he had ‘stopped breathing’, the hearing at Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Paramedics arrived at the property ‘within minutes’ to find Miguel in cardiac arrest and resuscitated him, but his condition remained ‘extremely serious’ and he was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Prosecutor Peter Wright said Nivalda claimed her husband was taking care of Miguel and also prevented police officers from talking to her other children, claiming they were shy.
‘At the hospital Klevi was looking for updates but seemed concerned about what information the police had. “At no stage did Nivalda request any updates on Miguel’s condition,” she told the court in October.
Klevi Pirjani (left), 37, and her partner Nivalda Santos Pirjani (right), 34, of Seacombe, Wirral, were found guilty of murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and grievous bodily offenses at Liverpool Crown Court today.
This comes after the couple were charged the morning after their baby boy collapsed and died from a traumatic brain injury on November 24, 2024 (Image: Percy Road, where the couple lived)
‘They made repeated efforts to contact each other as they went to hospital independently of each other. When contacted, Nivalda’s tone appeared aggressive towards Klevi.’
A CT scan taken after the baby was taken to hospital revealed that Miguel had suffered a ‘fracture’ in his skull and a brain bleed, as well as multiple fractures of different ages to his right collarbone, left upper arm and left tibia.
On 29 November, his condition was stated to be “irreversible” and he was subsequently taken off life support.
Post-mortem examination revealed a number of previous fractures on Miguel’s body, bruising around his left eye, retinal hemorrhages, displaced skull bones, bleeding on both sides of the brain, bleeding around the cervical cord, and fatal hypoxic ischemic brain injury (oxygen starvation to the brain).
Initially, the duo denied all charges against them, but Nivalda later filed a criminal complaint for causing or allowing the death of a child, but this allegation was rejected by the prosecution.
During a police interview, Nivalda claimed in a prepared statement that her partner was abusive and had previously attacked her other two children, but did not blame him for Miguel’s injuries.
Miguel’s mother told police she was “scared of Klevi and afraid of what he might do.”
The prosecution would later brand his statement as ‘fiction’ and a ‘calculated’ bid to ‘hide his own incident’ and ‘infer that any responsibility for Miguel’s injuries and death lay solely with his partner Klevi’.
Memorial service outside a house on Percy Road in Seacombe, Merseyside, following the death of three-month-old Miguel Pirjani
Miguel died at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital (pictured) on November 29 after his life support was stopped.
“We’ve been saying they’ve been in this since the beginning,” Mr. Wright had previously said at the opening hearing in October.
In a separate interview, Klevi disputed the mother’s claims and maintained that her son went to many appointments with healthcare professionals but no concerns were flagged.
He also questioned whether Miguel’s rib fractures were the result of CPR; this claim was later disputed by the Home Office Forensic Pathologist.
“In his professional opinion, each of the injuries identified, whether fatal or not, were not accidental,” Mr Wright told the court.
‘We say that Miguel was systematically physically abused by his parents. Knowing this, they caused a serious injury that was not actually fatal. ‘They caused or allowed his death.’
Following the guilty verdict, Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Holly Chance of Merseyside Police said: ‘This was a truly shocking murder of baby Miguel Pirjani and an extremely distressing case for us to investigate.
‘Miguel was only three months old when his life ended tragically at the violent hands of his parents.
‘Today’s sentencing of Klevi and Nivalda is extremely heartbreaking as Miguel tragically lost his life at the hands of his own parents who were supposed to nurture him and protect him from harm.’
