A new dad says he “failed his family” when he accidentally suffocated his two-month-old son after he’d fallen asleep on the sofa.
Carmine Martino (20) killed baby Lucas John Martino after the boy had fallen between his dad’s arm and the sofa and ended up being suffocated, reports Metro UK.
The incident, in November last year, happened at the family’s home in North Carolina in the US.
The child’s mother, Hayley Gavrilis (20), who’d also fallen asleep, woke up to find her baby’s body on the sofa. The couple, in utter shock and panic, tried to revive the boy but paramedics later confirmed his death.
“I started CPR and did that for 12 minutes until the ambulance arrived,” Carmine said.
“There was a lot of blame, obviously – of course I blamed myself. Being a father, it’s my job to protect my family, my son and my girlfriend and I failed them. I was extremely angry with myself.”
Both Hayley and Carmine have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hayley said she often experienced panic attacks, The Sun reports.
“I have depression and anxiety but I feel the death of my son and I know I have to deal with it,” she said. “I’m still going through the grieving process and every day is getting worse. I have trouble sleeping, I run over the details of the night.
“My friends and family tell me it’s not my fault, but I keep thinking if I hadn’t have slept for so long he’d still be alive.”
The couple split a month after the devastating incident but are working together to try to raise awareness of the dangers of falling asleep with a new-born, reports Yahoo News.
“This could have happened to anybody,” Carmine said. “This was one little mistake and that’s why it’s so important to raise awareness.”
Sources: metro.co.uk, au.news.yahoo.com, thesun.co.uk