Dad gets 13 years for torturing 8-week-old son (Cambridge, England)

UNNAMED DAD

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Father-jailed-for-13-years-for-torturing-baby-son-20130411060027.htm

Thursday 11 April 2013

Father jailed for 13 years for torturing baby son

Written by GARETH MCPHERSON

A twisted father who broke two of his own baby’s bones and tried to rape his partner has been jailed for 13 years.

The defendant also caused his 8-week-old son serious internal injuries in an attack with a “large blunt instrument” at the family home in Cambridgeshire in April last year.

The man in his 20s was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court this week for three horrific attacks on his defenceless son and the attempted rape and beating of the mother, who he controlled using intimidation and violence.

Members from both sides of the family wept as the prosecution described in graphic detail the injuries inflicted on the baby.

The full extent of the abuse was uncovered by the authorities when the infant was taken to hospital by ambulance after the mother woke up to find him bleeding on April 7 last year.

Experts from Addenbrooke’s found he had been attacked by a “large blunt instrument” - but did not know exactly what.

Claire Matthews, prosecuting, said the baby also suffered fractures to the left ulna, the elbow, and right tibia, which is in the leg, from his father.

She said: “They may be fractures of different ages and they would have required considerable force to cause them, far in excess of normal parental handling.”

The defendant admitted grievous bodily harm with intent and two counts of wounding to the infant.

He was found guilty of attempted rape and assault by beating in relation to his partner at a trial in February.

Judge Jonathan Haworth, sentencing him to 13 years, said they were “clearly grave offences”.

He said: “It does not need me to emphasise the seriousness of that level of injury to a young 8-week-old baby.”

Judge Haworth said the attempted rape on the woman in April 2011 was to “feed your own sexual appetite” and was “committed against a background of intimidation and violence”.

He added that the defendant offered little insight into how and why he attacked his child and was “particularly reticent” in explaining how the internal injuries occurred.

On the defendant’s dangerousness, Mark Shelley, defending, said: “Having no previous convictions, having had responsible jobs and people saying good things about him, he is not the sort of mad cat man who would be wandering around the streets with a knife in his hand.”

Telling the defendant he posed “a high risk of harm” to his family and those who he formed relationships with Judge Haworth said: “You patently qualify as a dangerous offender.”

The father is expected to be released on licence for the rest of his sentence after five years behind bars.

Speaking after the hearing the maternal grandfather of the baby said: “He did not get half enough. He would have killed that baby if he had a few more days.”

DS Lucy Mason, who investigated the case, said: “I have worked in child protection for 10 years and these were the worst injuries I have ever seen.

“The case is very distressing, particularly as it involved such a young child and we are pleased that he has recovered from those injuries and is now back in the care of his mother.

“We are pleased the offender has been brought to justice and is no longer part of the victims’ lives.”

The family cannot be identified for legal reasons.