City chief's battered daughter 'will not survive attack'
Last updated at 15:46pm on 5th June 2007 A two-year-old girl allegedly battered into a coma by her City executive father will not survive the attack, according to police and family friends.
Insurance chief Alberto Izaga, 36, is said to have punched and kicked daughter Yanire in an attack that led to speculation he had suffered a complete mental breakdown.
She was rushed to hospital with massive head injuries on Sunday morning while her father was sectioned.
The girl's mother, Ligia, was told yesterday she may have to decide today whether her life support machine should be switched off.
However, a friend of the family, who is said to have spent time with Mr Izaga's distraught wife after the attack, told The Times that the girl was unlikely to survive.
She said: "Having spoken to the medical team yesterday I do not think the decision whether or not to turn off the life support machine will be needed.
"Nature may take it's own course. There is only one way this is going to go and unfortunately there is no chance of the little girl surviving."
A police source added: "There are no signs of brain activity and we do not expect the child to survive.".
According to one report, Mr Izaga had heard "voices in his head" before allegedly beating Yanire, leaving her with a fractured skull.
High-flyer: Alberto Izaga works in London's famous Gherkin building
Mr Izaga was arrested at the family's £1 million apartment overlooking the Thames and sectioned under mental health laws when he allegedly went berserk in custody and tried to harm himself.
His wife, Ligia, who is also a business executive, has kept a vigil at Yanire's hospital bedside.
The child, who turned two in February, was found bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears after neighbours reported screams and shouts from the family's apartment.
Her condition was described as "critical".
Mrs Izaga, who tried to protect her child during the attack, was expected to meet doctors at the intensive care unit of St Thomas' Hospital this morning to discuss her daughter's prospects.
A police source said it was feared that the girl might not recover. "There are no signs of brain activity and we do not expect the child to survive," he said.
Mr Izaga, who was recently promoted to the executive board of insurance giant Swiss Re, remains under round-the-clock surveillance amid fears he might attempt suicide.
A consultant psychiatrist was preparing to interview him and police were checking his medical background to try to discover any clues to the attack.
Colleagues and associates of Mr Izaga say he is an affable and relaxed man who coped well with the pressures of his job.
Mark Geoghegan, a journalist who interviewed him earlier this year, described him as a "perfectly sanesounding and relaxed person".
A resident at the Parliament View apartments, where the couple were renting a home after selling their own smaller unit for £650,000, described Mr Izaga as "being completely besotted by his daughter".
He added: "I personally know them and they are a beautiful family."
Mr Izaga, who was born in Bilbao in northern Spain, is a passionate sports fan. A colleague said: "Outside the office, it's his family and sport - that's it."
Mr Izaga met his wife when they worked for a General Electric company in Connecticut. She was born in the Cape Verde islands, a remote archipelago off the west African coast, and moved to the United States.
The couple came to London in 2002 and she transferred to another General Electric company, GE Equity Europe, based in Clarges Street, Piccadilly.
She works in business development and has a background in mergers and acquisitions.
A spokesman for the firm said: "She is a highly valued employee and we are all deeply saddened by what has happened. Everyone was shocked and very sad and our thoughts are with her and her family at this time."
A City source who knows Mr Izaga told the Standard: "No one could see this coming. He seemed to be doing really well. He has only just turned 36 and seemed to heading for the very top."
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Millionaire 'urged by voices to batter his little girl'
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