Mum ‘sat holding her phone as bus passengers tried to save her dead baby’, sobbing commuter tells court

A BUS commuter wept in court today as she recalled how she desperately tried to revive a dead baby - while the infant's "relaxed" mother sat clutching her mobile phone.

Fjoralba Shmitz said Rosalin Baker — accused of staging the tot's death in public to cover up abuse — "did not have any reaction" as other passengers rushed to help.

Baker, 25, was given a "thumbs up" by her lover Jeffrey Wiltshire, 52, as she boarded a number 25 double decker in East London with their baby in a sling, a jury has heard.

But three-month-old Imani was already dead after being subjected to at least three severe attacks that left her with 40 rib fractures, a broken wrist and terrible head injuries from being flung on the floor, prosecutors claim.

Ms Shmitz said Baker gestured to her to come over as she sat on the lower deck on her journey to work last September.

She told the Old Bailey: "I believe she was on the phone. She said 'there's something wrong with my baby'.

"I saw the baby's face. I touched her left cheek. It was cold. I straight away tried to take the baby out of the sling.

"I took the baby and I laid her down on the bus seat. The baby was not breathing. I tried to help but I didn't manage to do so. The baby had lips that were cold."

Ms Shmitz, who gave evidence via an Italian interpreter, said the child's eyes were closed and she had a blue bruise under one eye.

Weeping, she went on: "I became distressed because the baby was not moving. The mother was sitting there and did not have any reaction.

"At a certain point, I took the child in my arms. I went up to the bus driver and asked him to call the police and the ambulance.

"I thought that the baby was dead. I took the baby back to the bus seat and a lady — I think she was Spanish — started praying.

"I think someone spoke to the ambulance but I was in so much shock that I cannot remember."

The witness added of the mother: "She did not have any reaction.

"She was not crying, she was not shouting, she was not speaking and there were other passengers on the bus too who were asking if it was my son."

Icah Peart QC, cross examining, asked if the mother "appeared to be completely detached from what was happening to her child".

Ms Shmitz replied: "Dear Mr lawyer, a detached person does not stay on the phone in her hand when her daughter is not being well.

"I believe when I was sitting down and she made a sign, she was on the phone to someone, so I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, she seemed very relaxed."

Jurors have previously heard how Baker acted out a "nightmare" charade, asking bus passengers to help after her dead baby "fell ill" during the journey.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said: "Those members of the public, presented with the nightmare of an infant who was not breathing, did all they could to help.