The court heard that whilst he has accepted he was the sole carer of his 22-day-old daughter when she sustained the injuries, he has not provided an explanation for how the harm was caused.<\/p>\n
On the afternoon of December 30, 2017 the baby\u2019s mother had gone to the hairdresser and left the child with her partner.<\/p>\n When the mother left her house, the baby had been fed, changed, was sleeping and was due a feed at around 2pm.<\/p>\n She received a text from her partner saying the baby had not woken for her bottle and she replied by telling her partner to change the nappy at this usually woke the baby up.<\/p>\n The defendant then told his partner that the baby was breathing funny which prompted her to leave the hairdressers early and return home.<\/p>\n When she got home, the baby was in her father\u2019s arms and her eyes started fluttering and her lips were smacking.<\/p>\n The mother\u2019s sister, who has medical training, was also present at this point and as she recognised the baby was having a seizure, an ambulance was called.<\/p>\n A paramedic at the scene noted that both parents didn\u2019t appear to know what was happening and the baby was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children.<\/p>\n Tests including a CT scan were conducted which indicated bleeding on the brain and it was the conclusion by a team of multi-disciplinary medics that the baby had suffered an acute traumatic head injury.<\/p>\n This, it was concluded, was most likely caused by the repetitive backward and forward movement of an unsupported infant\u2019s head pivoting on the neck.<\/p>\n The defendant was subsequently arrested and questioned by police.<\/p>\n He said that on the afternoon in question his daughter had woken up around 1.30pm and was due a feed at 2pm.<\/p>\n He said she had three bowl movements and after that he made a bottle but she was \u2018out for the count\u2019 and he couldn\u2019t get her eyes open.<\/p>\n Saying he then put her in a swing, the defendant told police the baby\u2019s eyes were still closed. He said following this, he tried to get her wind up over his shoulder.<\/p>\n He also said that just before his partner came home, their daughter\u2019s lips were clicking and her eyebrows were moving.<\/p>\n When asked if he shook the baby at any point, the defendant said no.<\/p>\n During two further interviews, the defendant again denied shaking his daughter and denied getting frustrated at having to change her nappy three times.<\/p>\n Crown barrister Rosemary Walsh KC spoke of the injured party\u2019s \u201cvery tender age\u201d and said much of the case was based on medical reports.<\/p>\n She said it was the prosecution\u2019s case that \u201cthis baby was shaken\u201d and that the injuries sustained were \u201cconsistent with an episode of shaking of the child\u201d.<\/p>\n Ms Walsh added that whilst it was difficult for experts to determine the duration of the shaking and or the degree of force, the baby was \u201conly three weeks old\u201d and in the sole care of her father at the time.<\/p>\n The prosecutor also spoke of the long-term impact on the child who is non-verbal, has significant mobility issues, requires assistance with washing, eating and drinking and continues suffering seizures.<\/p>\n Ms Walsh said: \u201cShe will never live the life of a happy, healthy young child.\u201d<\/p>\n Also noted by the prosecuting KC was confirmation from the child\u2019s mother about the contact her now ex partner has with their daughter and the responsibility he upholds emotionally and financially as a father.<\/p>\n Following extensive supervision from social services which has now concluded, this includes weekly contact, overnight stays and family holidays.<\/p>\n Addressing the issue of delay, Ms Walsh said that the case was complex and was complicated by issues of obtaining the right medical evidence.<\/p>\n Judge Reel then asked defence barrister Kevin Magill about the \u201cbasis upon which the plea was entered\u201d.<\/p>\n The barrister replied by reading a document the defendant signed with his solicitor which said he accepts \u2018the medical opinion that the injuries sustained by (the child) were sustained whilst she was in his sole care\u2019.<\/p>\n The document added: \u2018He is unable to recall any event that would have caused such injuries but accepts that some such event must have occurred.<\/p>\n \u2018The defendant\u2019s plea is based on an acceptance that notwithstanding, he has no recall of a specific causative event. He must have caused the injuries.\u2019<\/p>\n Mr Magill also spoke of the passage of time since the incident, which occurred when his client was 24 and with a \u201climited experience\u201d of childcare.<\/p>\n The barrister said that in the intervening years, his client has \u201cchanged significantly\u201d, is now in full-time employment, has engaged fully with social services and has family responsibilities including regular contact with the injured party with whom he has a \u201cvery strong bond\u201d.<\/p>\n He added his client has not come to any adverse attention since 2017 and is a man who \u201cevery day is living with the guilt that is associated with the injuries that were caused to his daughter\u201d.<\/p>\n In addition, Mr Magill also spoke of the delay in bringing the case to court and the impact that has had on his client.<\/p>\n Judge Reel said that after reading all the medical evidence he was \u201csatisfied that the defendant inflicted the injuries on the victim by vigorously shaking her\u201d.<\/p>\n Citing the injuries as \u201clife-changing\u201d, the Judge said they could have been caused during a \u201cmomentary period of anger or frustration\u201d.<\/p>\n Whilst he expressed concerns that the defendant has not explained what happened, Judge Reel added: \u201cI have no doubt that he keenly feels regret every day of his life and is confronted by the consequences of his actions every time he sees or thinks about his daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n As he imposed the suspended sentence, Judge Reel said he had taken into account issues such as delay in the case, the defendant\u2019s previous good character and the impact a period in custody would have on his daughter.<\/p>\n Before he left the dock, the defendant was warned of the consequences of re-offending within the next four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 33-year old man who caused \u201clife-changing\u201d injuries to his three-week old daughter in a \u2018baby-shaking\u2019 incident was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[61,2864,5,6],"class_list":["post-101689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-crime","tag-psni","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117080839022694416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Noah](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/QO3CUVBU6JCCTFND2C66OWR6D4.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Jeffrey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LAYJIX7LORKIZDFXRSQMNHDIC4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n