Posted on: Saturday, July 14, 2001

Infant 'basically dead on arrival,' prosecutor says

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 4-month-old girl who died two years ago suffered massive head injuries that were inflicted on her by her father, a prosecutor said yesterday.

The nonjury trail for Michael J. Bentosino, 45, began yesterday before Circuit Judge Marie Milks. Bentosino, who waived a jury trial, is charged with second-degree murder.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim said that Bentosino's daughter, Tori, suffered massive, multiple skull fractures that caused her brain to swell the evening of July 30, 1999. When the girl was taken to St. Francis Medical Center West in 'Ewa late that night, Kim said, Tori was "basically dead on arrival."

Kim said Tori had no pulse, no blood pressure and was not breathing. Hospital workers stabilized Tori and she was transferred to Kapi'olani Medical Center where she was placed on a life-support system.

But Kim said doctors couldn't stop the little girl's brain from swelling and she was removed from the life-support system Aug. 2. Tori died a short while later.

Kim said that prosecution witnesses will testify that the force used to inflict Tori's injuries was "very great." He said someone caused these injuries and the only person who was alone with the baby when the injuries occurred was Bentosino.

Defense attorney Reginald Minn deferred his opening statements and would not comment on what the defense's arguments will be. But in a police affidavit filed earlier in court, Bentosino told police Tori fell from his arms while he was feeding her, hit her head on a ceramic counter, and fell to the floor.

After nearly 20 minutes, Tori stopped crying and Bentosino told police he placed her in her crib, according to the affidavit. After another seven minutes, Bentosino said he took a bottle to the girl, but noticed she had no control over her body and had a large lump on the back of her head, the affidavit said.

He then told the baby's mother, Nanette Arigo, that they needed to take the baby to the hospital, according to the affidavit.

According to a court document, a doctor at Kapi-'olani Medical Center said Tori was injured when she was shaken and battered. Dr. Cynthia Tinsley said there also was evidence of an old wrist fracture.

Arigo, 34, was the only witness to take the stand yesterday. Arigo testified that she was in the shower the night Tori was injured and heard her child cry for a short while. But the crying stopped and she thought nothing of it.

She testified that after her shower, she walked past Tori's bedroom and Bentosino was standing next to her crib. Arigo said she asked him if he had fed her, and he said no.

Several minutes went by and Bentosino heated up a bottle to take to the baby. But Arigo said he returned to the kitchen with Tori in his arms and said they needed to go to the hospital.

Arigo said she didn't know what was wrong with her baby until she noticed a bump on the back of her head. She said she tried to feel the baby's chest for a pulse and held her hand next to her nose to see if she was breathing.

"She looked like she was sleeping," said Arigo, who cried as she saw pictures in court of a healthy Tori.

Arigo said she was at her daughter's bedside nearly the entire time that Tori was at Kapi'olani Medical Center. But on Aug. 2, she gave doctors permission to remove Tori from the life-support system.

The trial will resume Monday.