• Mother throws infant from window, baby dies instantly
• Court schedules plea hearing and preliminary trial

A London court heard harrowing details about the death of an 18-day-old baby girl, who suffered a fatal head injury after being thrown from her family’s third-floor flat in Westminster, central London.

The court said the child, named Mariam, fell from the apartment window last Saturday. Her mother, 43-year-old Zahira Byjaouane, had been scheduled to appear at the Old Bailey charged with her daughter’s murder but did not attend.

Prosecutor Philip McGhee said the accused’s husband called emergency services at 7:30 a.m., reporting that a child had fallen from a window. The father had been in the kitchen preparing baby formula when Mariam was allegedly thrown, McGhee added.

He ran outside to try to reach his daughter but was unable to do so, then returned inside and called 999. Emergency crews found Mariam lying on a concrete surface between the apartment block and a high metal railing, while her mother was sitting on a bed inside the flat when police entered.

The baby was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after falling about 10 meters (32 feet) but died at 9:00 a.m. from a fractured skull.

A plea hearing is scheduled for June 3, with a preliminary trial set for February 2027. The court ordered Byjaouane to be held in custody until the trial.