Dad who CONFESSED to almost killing 5-week-old daughter WALKS FREE (Plymouth, England, United Kingdom)

Next time you hear a fathers rights guy whine about how mothers get a free pass on child abuse but poor daddies are crucified, remember this case.

Dad OLIVER GILES CONFESSED that he violently shook his 5-week-old daughter while he was babysitting because "she wouldn't stop crying." The baby almost died from the brain haemorrhage, and was subjected to a spinal tap, brain scans, and drainage out of her brain for nearly a month. Both parents were arrested, but Dad finally manned up and admitted that he had done the shaking, not Mum.

So how harshly is Dad being treated for nearly killing this infant and then telling lies about it? Not very. Basically just community work. And he still gets to see his kids twice a week under supervision. At least the supervision is for now. And for all Dad's troublemaking, Mum no longer has custody, though none of this was her fault.

So tell me again: who is subjected to harsher and more stringent standards by the courts, mums or dads?

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Navy-chef-killed-new-baby/article-1689911-detail/article.html

Navy chef almost killed his new baby
Friday, January 08, 2010, 17:00

A ROYAL Navy chef who shook his baby daughter so violently she almost died has walked free from Plymouth Crown Court.

Oliver Giles, 29, initially denied all knowledge of how five- week-old Emily's injuries had been caused, but months later confessed he had shaken her because she wouldn't stop crying.

Prosecutor David Gittins told the court baby Emily had been born on June 25 last year. Five weeks later Giles' partner of five years, Natalie Jarvis, took their older daughter Olivia to a party, leaving Giles to tend Emily.

On August 7, she took Emily to her GP, saying she had a runny nose and was floppy and lethargic. The doctor found no evidence of meningitis but said the baby looked very ill, and sent her to Derriford Hospital.

There a CT scan revealed a brain haemorrhage, and Emily was transferred to Frenchay specialist children's hospital in Bristol. There, both parents were told that Emily had suffered an unexplained head trauma and had probably been shaken. They were warned she might die.

Emily was fitted with a spinal tap, underwent brain imaging and five times had to have a needle inserted in her head under general anaesthetic to drain off fluid, Mr Gittins said.

After nearly a month, she was transferred back to Derriford.

Both parents were interviewed, and were arrested.

Giles eventually confessed because he felt his family was being torn apart.

He admitted having shaken the baby for two or three seconds with considerable force, her body and head swinging around.

Mr Gittins said both girls had been placed in the care of their grandparents.

John Haythorne, for Giles, said he told Plymouth Social Services and the police: "It was just one shake; I haven't picked her up and chucked her around the room or anything."

He said Giles was a man of good character who might be retained by the Navy. He had entered an early guilty plea and was seeing his children twice a week under supervision.

The judge, Recorder Richard Stead, told Giles the child had been totally vulnerable and he had breached a trust.

"Any cruelty to a child is an offence of the utmost seriousness," he said. "It is everyone's good fortune that she appears to have made a good recovery, but the prognosis is uncertain until she is fully developed."

He sentenced Giles, whose address was given as HMS Drake and who pleaded guilty to a single charge of child cruelty, to 24 weeks in jail suspended for 12 months and also ordered him to undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work.

Natalie Jarvis told The Herald: "We are relieved that this part of the ordeal is over; I cannot explain the trauma that it has put us through over the last five months.

"Being under suspicion for something which I hadn't done left me feeling helpless and added to the heartbreak of my baby being in hospital and not being able to be with her when she needed me most.

"Now I have to try and rebuild a life for myself and my two children without their father.

"One day a beautiful and precious child will ask: 'Daddy, why did you hurt me?'."

Acting Det Insp Barry Walter from the Plymouth Child Abuse Team said: "This was a complicated enquiry involving the Plymouth Child Abuse Team, Plymouth Social Services, the Royal Navy and the medical staff at both Derriford and Frenchay Hospital. Through excellent joint working with these partners appropriate treatment and ongoing protection of this child has been established."

A Royal Navy spokeswoman said the Navy would consider the court's judgement on Giles before taking a decision on his future.