Father stands trial He dropped the baby.
for baby’s death
Michael Bentosino is accused of
causing her fatal head injuriesBy Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comThat's why they had to take her to the hospital, Michael Bentosino told the infant's mother on July 30, 1999.
Other than the bump on the back of her head, Tori Bentosino appeared to be sleeping, her mother, Nanette Arigo said.
But a CAT scan showed otherwise. Massive brain swelling. Multiple skull fractures. Bleeding in several areas of the brain and in the retinas of both eyes.
Despite efforts to revive her, the baby girl went into a deep coma. Three days later, 4-month-old Tori was dead.
Two years later, Arigo says she still does not know exactly what happened when she left her then-boyfriend, Bentosino, and their daughter alone together while she took a shower.
Bentosino, 45, went on trial yesterday for second-degree murder, accused of causing the injuries that resulted in Tori's death.
Defense attorneys Reginald Minn and Richard Wurdeman reserved opening statements for later. They are expected to argue that Tori's injuries were accidental and occurred after she fell from Bentosino's arms. Defense experts are expected to testify that her injuries were consistent with a fall.
Arigo testified yesterday that while in the shower, she heard Tori crying but did not think anything of it because it soon stopped. After her shower, she walked past her daughter's room and noticed Bentosino looking at the infant as she lay in her crib. Bentosino followed Arigo into the kitchen where she heated some soup and he prepared a bottle for Tori.
When he went to get the baby from her crib, he came back and told Arigo they had to go to the hospital, she testified.
By the time they arrived at St. Francis Medical Center-West, about a five-minute drive from Arigo's Waipahu home, the baby had no pulse, no blood pressure, was not breathing and her pupils were fixed and dilated, Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim said. An emergency room doctor noted the baby was basically "dead on arrival."
Experts for the state are expected to testify that the injuries Tori suffered were "inflicted upon her" and that the force necessary to cause those injuries was "very great," Kim said.
Besides Arigo's 7-year-old son, who was asleep on the couch, the only person with the infant when she suffered those injuries was her father, Kim said.
Arigo testified Tori had had no health problems. Her daughter seemed fine when Arigo picked her up from the sitter's earlier that afternoon and before she went to shower.
The trial is expected to last another week. If convicted, Bentosino faces life with the chance of parole.