Shaun Sicsico, charged with seriously injuring his infant daughter, was returned to the Dukes County Jail where he is being held on $50,000 cash bail, after a brief court appearance before Judge Thomas Barrett in Edgartown District Court last Thursday.
Mr. Sicsico’s lawyer, Robert Manning of Barnstable, told Judge Barrett that his knowledge of the case extended to Mr. Sicsico’s $50,000 cash bail. The judge continued the case for a further pretrial hearing, set for August 9.
The baby’s injuries were discovered when the child’s parents, Andrea Metell of Oak Bluffs and Mr. Sicsico, brought her to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. The child was later transferred by MedFlight to Boston Children’s Hospital.
The attending physicians, as well as Dr. Alice Newton, medical director of the Child Protection Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, came to the conclusion that the child’s injuries were consistent with abuse, according to a copy of the statement of facts presented to the court and obtained by The Times.
The baby had “bruising on all limbs, as well as bruising of eyelids, and a torn frenulum [a connecting fold of membrane serving to support or restrain a part (as the tongue)].”
The hospital contacted the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and told the social welfare agency that Jaelynn had been brought to the hospital with severe brain injuries. DCF social workers took emergency custody of the child and called the Oak Bluffs Police Department.
Oak Bluffs and State Police arrested Mr. Sicsico on Sunday, July 28, on a charge of assault and battery on a child, causing substantial injuries that left his 12-week-old daughter, born prematurely, on life support.
Mr. Sicsico told the police officers that “he spun the victim and may have spun her too hard,” according to court records.
Jaelynn Elizabeth Metell was born on May 2, at Massachusetts General Hospital. She weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces at birth, according to her birth announcement.
In a telephone conversation Monday following the arrest, Cape and Island’s District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the child had only been home for three to four weeks and was at Children’s Hospital “on life support.”
Asked for an update late Tuesday on the baby’s condition, in an email to The Times, Cayenne Isaksen, director of public affairs for the Department of Children & Families said, “I am very sorry, but we do not provide medical information or details regarding children in our care.”
Ms. Isaksen confirmed the baby remains in the hospital.
A good kid
In court last Thursday, Mr. Sicsico appeared downcast. He became emotional when he spotted two friends, Margie Pires, of West Tisbury, and Fernanda Iannucci, of Vineyard Haven, seated in the court.
Ms. Pires and Mr. Iannucci spoke with the Times after court Thursday. Ms. Pires said she has known Mr. Sicsico his whole life.
“He’s a good kid,” Ms. Pires said. “I can’t believe this has happened.”
“We’ve never seen signs of violence or anger. He’s never been disrespectful,” she added.
According to Ms. Pires, the couple has been together for about two years and lived in Ms. Metell’s mother’s basement apartment in Oak Bluffs.
“Shaun loved that baby,” she said. “I don’t believe in my heart he did anything to hurt that baby.”
Ms. Pires said the couple was a very “young couple.” “The hospital should’ve given them parenting classes,” she said.
Mr. Sicsico was employed at Cronig’s Market for about two years. Ms. Pires said he worked in both Cronig’s locations, up-Island and down-Island, but was let go from the Vineyard Haven Cronig’s earlier this year.
Mr. Sicsico was born in Edgartown, but moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, with his parents when he was about two, she said. Ms. Pires and her husband, Val Pires, took Mr. Sicsico into their home when he was about 15. “I took him in as a favor to his mother, because he could not get the direction he needed,” she said.
Ms. Pires sent Mr. Sicsico back to Connecticut to spend more time with his family when he was 17, she said, but he wanted to come back. He moved back to the Island and met Ms. Metell.
Ms. Pires wants Mr. Sicsico to talk. “I don’t think anything was intentional,” she said. “I don’t know if she’s putting the burden on him, or, if he knows anything – I want him to talk. I just want the whole truth to come out. I am not completely defending Shaun, but I am only saying what I know about him and what I’ve witnessed as an adult.”
Shaun Sicsico, charged with seriously injuring his infant daughter, was returned to the Dukes County Jail where he is being held on $50,000 cash bail, after a brief court appearance before Judge Thomas Barrett in Edgartown District Court Thursday.
Mr. Sicsico’s lawyer, Robert Manning of Barnstable, told Judge Barrett that his knowledge of the case extended to Mr. Sicsico’s $50,000 cash bail. The judge continued the case for a further pretrial hearing, set for August 9.
The baby’s injuries were discovered when the child’s parents, Andrea Metell of Oak Bluffs and Mr. Sicsico, brought her to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. The child was later transferred by MedFlight to Boston Children’s Hospital.
The attending physicians, as well as Dr. Alice Newton, medical director of the Child Protection Team at Boston Children’s Hospital, came to the conclusion that the child’s injuries were consistent with abuse, according to a copy of the statement of facts presented to the court and obtained by The Times.
The baby had “bruising on all limbs, as well as bruising of eyelids, and a torn frenulum [a connecting fold of membrane serving to support or restrain a part (as the tongue)].”
The hospital contacted the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and told the social welfare agency that Jaelynn had been brought to the hospital with severe brain injuries. DCF social workers took emergency custody of the child and called the Oak Bluffs Police Department.
Oak Bluffs and State Police arrested Mr. Sicsico Sunday on a charge of assault and battery on a child, causing substantial injuries that left his 12-week-old daughter, born prematurely, on life support.
Mr. Sicsico told the police officers that “he spun the victim and may have spun her too hard,” according to court records.
Jaelynn Elizabeth Metell was born on May 2, at Massachusetts General Hospital. She weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces at birth, according to her birth announcement.
In a telephone conversation Monday, Cape and Island’s District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the child had only been home for three to four weeks and was at Children’s Hospital “on life support.”
Boston Children’s Hospital media representative Erin Tornatore said Thursday she could not provide any information on the condition of the baby.
