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Father charged in
baby’s death says he
hit her head on door
He also says he squeezed the
By Debra Barayuga
baby and put her down 'a bit hard'
Star-BulletinA man charged in the death of his 3-week-old daughter said he struck her head on the corner of a door while he was carrying her.
In court documents filed Wednesday charging Darren Kawaa, also known as Darren Silva, with second-degree murder, Kawaa said the impact was "a hard hit."
He said the baby cried but fell asleep. He also said he was tired so when he placed the infant in her baby carrier, he squeezed her sides and placed her in it "a bit hard."
He neglected to give police details about the incident two days earlier when the baby was brought to Kapiolani Hospital at Pali Momi April 14 because he didn't feel his actions caused her death, according to the affidavit.
Kawaa said he checked on her the next morning and found her not breathing, cold and stiff. Angel Saludares was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Deputy medical examiner Kanthi Von Guenthner determined the infant died as a result of a head injury caused by blunt trauma to the right part of the skull.
She found that the baby died shortly after the head trauma occurred and that the injury had to have been caused by "substantial force."
Von Guenthner also found that Angel had old healed rib fractures as well as recent rib fractures. Based on her findings, she classified the manner of death as homicide.
The baby's mother, Candace Saludares and Kawaa contended they last saw their baby alive at 3:30 a.m. April 15 after feeding her. The couple fell asleep in their room after playing videos and didn't wake until nearly eight hours later at 11 a.m.
When they woke, Saludares asked Kawaa to check the baby. She called 911 from a neighbor's home after Kawaa told her the infant wasn't breathing.
Saludares and Kawaa said they were the only ones with the baby from the time she was last seen alive to the time she was discovered unconscious.
The baby's grandmother, Shari Saludares, told police she remembered hearing a loud bang on the wall sometime between 4 a.m. to 4:30 a.m., but assumed something had fallen in the closet.
She last saw her granddaughter alive at close to midnight the night before when she fed her.
