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After prosecution witnesses portrayed malnourished 7-month-old Naeem Busby with sepsis and meningitis that would have likely shown symptoms for many weeks, four Busby family members testifying Friday for the baby’s parents said the child appeared healthy and playful in the months before his death in December 2015.

Naeem’s father, Qwalion Busby, 36, and his wife, Marquita Johnson, 33, who live near Converse, were charged with medical neglect or “injury to a child by omission,” a first degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years in prison.

“He looked healthy and well-fed,” said Ernest Busby, 57, the child’s grandfather, who said he held Naeem on four visits to the home, including the first week of December 2015. The child died on the 23rd in septic shock.

In October, said Ernest Busby, the baby appeared “chubby, lighter than honey brown and had eyes that were bright and sparkling.” The jury chuckled when the 5-foot-5, gray-haired man said he didn’t think Naeem, who died weighing about 11.6 pounds, appeared small in photos. “My father’s 5-foot-5. My mother’s 4-foot-10,” he said. “We’re not small, just a little short.”

Naeem’s grandmother, Elaine Busby, testified she saw the baby happily breastfeed on numerous occasions and that in the first week of December Naeem’s skin was “pure and beautiful.” Throughout the trial prosecutors have projected photos from the day of Naeem’s death that showed bright red rashes and flaky, mottled skin.

Both grandparents said under questioning by their son’s attorney, Sean Keane-Dawes, that they would not lie in court to protect their son.

Qwalion’s sister, Tiffany King, a mother who lives in Houston, said she visited Naeem “around December 15th” of 2015 and was shocked when she learned on the 23rd that the baby had died after being rushed to the hospital by ambulance unresponsive and barely breathing.

“My mouth just dropped,” said King, adding that she had seen no symptoms that would have prompted a call to a doctor. “He had been playing in my arms and seemed completely fine.”

Earlier in the week prosecutors put on the stand a medical examiner and pediatric critical care specialist who portrayed the child as having died from an untreated middle ear infection that developed into sepsis, a massive infection of the blood stream.

They said the bacteria would have been easily treated and killed by at least five common antibiotics. The parents did not believe in using traditional medicine, and instead treated Naeem’s rashes and hair loss with essential oils and neem oil.

The defense team’s first witness Friday, Dr. Ralph Faville, a pediatric disease specialist from St. Paul, Minnesota, took issue with the prosecution witnesses who said Naeem’s medical crisis would have been obvious for weeks or months to “any responsible parent.”

By evaluating only the autopsy, Faville testified that “it was just a short time (Naeem) was profoundly ill.” Naeem’s immune system was unable to fight the infection, Faville said, and it could have all happened “very quickly, in about 24 to 36 hours.”

The trial will continue next week in Judge Melisa Skinner’s 290th state district court.

bselcraig@express-news.net

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