A Coroner ruled that ten-month-old Samira Daniels was unlawfully killed in 1998, however he said no one may ever have to answer for the crime.

?I am satisfied on the basis of the evidence laid before this Inquest that Samira Marye Daniels suffered death as a result of being violently shaken,? Coroner Mark Pettingill said yesterday.

He said the girl had been shaken so violently it caused a severe brain haemorrhage which so greatly affected her brain function that she was unable to survive.

?This type of shaking would clearly constitute a deliberate act and consequently any notion of ?accident? can be ruled out,? Mr. Pettingill said.

However, the Coroner added that there is no evidence before him to support whether the act that killed Samira was ?murder? or ?manslaughter? as defined by Bermuda?s Criminal Code.

?Coroner?s Inquests are performed in the scrutiny of the public eye and are of particular concern when they involve the death of small children in circumstances such as these where it is evidentially difficult for the Director of Public Prosecutions to found a prima facie case against one individual, such circumstances are rare but do occur,? he said.

?This is a case where a healthy young child has been unlawfully killed by an individual and it is indeed tragic that no person may ever have to answer for this child?s death.?

Coroner?s Inquests can judge how a person died but it cannot say that someone is guilty, he said, which is a matter for the DPP.

And the Court noted that future prosecution may be a difficult prospect ?given the circumstances of the evidence in this case?.

The evidence stated that the shaking-event which caused her death took place 12 hours prior to Samira?s collapse at the home of her baby-sitter. Olga Smith.

As a result, Samira was in the care, custody and control of her parents, Renee and Philip Paul Daniels at their home in Verdmont Valley View, Smiths, he said.

At 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 24, 1998, Samira was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital by her caregiver, Olga Smith.

He said, at the time she was brought to KEMH she was in a ?floppy state, pale and gasping for breath?.

Samira clung to life for six days before being pronounced dead at 12.17 p.m. on November 29, 1998.

Phillip Daniels said he understood that medical experts concluded that his daughter was shaken while she was in his care.

However Mr. Daniels could offer no explanation as to how her brain injury occurred. Once outside the court, tensions were high and Mr. Daniels was arrested after allegedly threatening Det. Con. Jason Smith.

Renee Daniels could not explain her daughter?s injuries and said the only other person at home with them that night was her ten-year-old son Oscar.

?She clearly seemed aggrieved that this matter had dragged on for years and that she had been arrested and questioned in relation to it last year,? he said. ?The Court was candidly surprised that her husband had not also been arrested or questioned under caution.?

Mrs. Daniels strongly denied ever shaking Samira.

However, she could not answer the Coroner?s question: ?If not you then who else??

?It is apparent that all possible medical care was given in an attempt to save her life but that such efforts were futile given the extent of her brain injury,? he said.

It was clear from the medical evidence presented at the Inquest that Samira may have been a victim of shaken baby syndrome, he said.

Shaken baby syndrome is a medical label given to circumstances when a young child suffers bleeding in the brain because of being forcefully shaken backwards and forwards.

?There is no evidence to support that any violent shaking of the child occurred that morning whilst she was at the nursery in the care of Ms Smith,? Mr. Pettingill said.

He said Ms Smith did everything she could do for her young charge.

Ms Smith?s fianc? Arthur James West gave further evidence with regard to her character and child-caring ability?s.