Dad gets 12 years in jail for manslaughter death of 3-month-old daughter (Waikato, New Zealand)

Dad JOSHUA WOODCOCK was supposedly the "primary" caregiver of two boys--one that was a son he had with his girlfriend, the other the girlfriend's son from an earlier relationship. The judge actually says that Woodcock was a "good father"--at least before Dad decided to kill his 3-month-old daughter. How does the following actions make you a "good father"? It appears that Daddy Dearest pressed his knee into the infant and banged her head into a hard surface, leaving the poor baby with 8 broken ribs, hemorrhaging, a tear to skin before her gum and lip, bruising to her jaw and chest--and a fatal head fracture that was 4 centimeters long. (Some of the injuries appear to predate the final assault.) And then after that, Daddy Dearest didn't bother to seek medical help. Mom has been nailed for neglect--no word here as to whether she was working or the circumstances behind her actions.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10606403

Dad gets 12 years for killing daughter
7:13PM Friday Oct 30, 2009

A Waikato man found guilty of the manslaughter of his three-month-old daughter in 2005 has been jailed for 12 years.

In sentencing Joshua Woodcock in the High Court at Rotorua today, Justice Edwin Wylie said the then 19-year-old had committed the ultimate breach of trust by killing his own child, Sarah Haddock-Woodcock.

"You failed her in the worst possible way."

The infant died as a result of injuries inflicted on her at her Putaruru home, sometime in the week or fortnight leading up to March 12, 2005, the day she died.

Justice Wylie said the infant's injuries could have only been caused by considerable force. Although no weapon was involved much of the offending had been brutal.

Evidence had been given at Woodcock's trial that at least one of the injuries had probably been caused by a knee been pressed into the infant, and others by her head being banged against a hard surface.

An autopsy revealed multiple injuries including eight broken ribs, haemorrhaging, a tear to skin between her gum and lip, bruising to her jaw and chest. The skull fracture that killed her was four centimetres long.

Justice Wylie said the haemorrhage had been described as a "big bag of blood under her skin".

"These injuries tell a horrific tale of abuse.

"By failing to seek help you callously disregarded her suffering."

Sarah had been helpless and utterly defenceless and the sentence needed to denounce the community's abhorrence at such conduct.

"Regrettably, child abuse is all too common in this country."

He noted that before the injuries were inflicted, Woodcock had been a good father, taking over the primary care of two boys, one the son he had with Ms Haddock, the other her son by another man.

The infant's mother, Jaymie Haddock, was jailed for 2 1/2 years in 2007 for wilfully neglecting her. She was in court for her former partner's sentencing, weeping throughout most of it.

- NZPA