Indicted in fatal beating of infant son

A Lower East Side man has been indicted for beating his baby son to death.

Ceferino Sanchez pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday to murder, manslaughter, and other charges in his 4-month-old’s April killing.

Sanchez, 34, took his son Cairo Dixon-Sanchez to NYU Langone Hospital wrapped in a blanket and said the infant “jerked” out of his arms and fell to the floor, prosecutors said.

But an autopsy found the baby died of abusive head trauma. The child had skull fractures, severe hemorrhaging, and injuries caused by fingers being shoved under his eyes.

“The life of Cairo Dixon-Sanchez was tragically cut short at just four months,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “It is harrowing to know that ... a vulnerable infant, suffered this unimaginable abuse.”

The baby’s 33-year-old mother, who is not accused of wrongdoing, was home in their apartment in the Vladeck Houses on Madison St. when little Cairo was mortally injured, prosecutors said.

The woman heard a loud bang while Sanchez was with Cairo in another room, followed by two more thumps and the infant crying an hour later, prosecutors claim.

Sanchez allegedly pressured her to lie to authorities.

“I f——d up,” Sanchez confessed, prosecutors said.

He ordered her to say they were in bed together when Cairo’s bassinet tipped over, according to court documents. “Otherwise, this could look bad,” he allegedly said.

Police sources said the baby looked like he was “punched square in the face.”

The couple’s 3-year-old daughter, who also home at the time of the beating, was taken from the apartment by the Administration for Children’s Services after Sanchez was arrested in April.

Sanchez has been behind bars since his bust and remained there after his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.