Father charged with murder, child neglect after death of 6-week-old son

By Ana Ley

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013 | 6:13 p.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of beating his 6-week-old son to death has been arrested on murder and child neglect charges.

Ahmad Moosa, 31, told detectives that he found his son, Damian Moosa, unresponsive at their home in the 3500 block of San Pascual Avenue on Saturday afternoon shortly after he changed the baby’s diaper, according to a Metro Police arrest report released Wednesday.

Moosa was caring for Damian and two of his older siblings at their home while the children’s mother was out running errands. As Moosa changed Damian’s diaper on a sofa, the boy urinated on himself and on Moosa, who then changed the boy and briefly went into another room to change his own clothes.

When he returned, the child was reportedly limp and his arms were locked in an upright position above his head, according to the report. Moosa, who told police he has some medical training, then performed CPR on the child and called 911.

An ambulance rushed Damian to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The child had a body temperature of 92 degrees shortly before he died.

Moosa and his wife, Emily Moosa, told police that the boy appeared to be fine hours earlier.

An autopsy performed by the Clark County Coroner’s Office revealed heavy bleeding inside Damian’s skull along with new and old injuries along his ribcage. The new injuries on his ribs were too high and in the wrong location to be the result of chest compressions, doctors told police.

Medical experts and police concluded that the child had been abused by Ahmad Moosa, who was arrested after a second voluntary interview Tuesday afternoon. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of child abuse causing substantial injury and two counts of child neglect/endangerment with substantial bodily harm.

He remains at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.