Saturday, February 25, 2012

Dad jailed for shaking and throwing 2-month-old daughter (Edmonton, Canada)

Dad CHRISTOPHER MURPHY admits to viciously abusing this baby not once, but TWICE. And then he lied about it. In fact, it seems that everytime he was left alone with this baby he threw her. Daddy admits he was "stupid." Ya think?
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/02/24/father-jailed-for-shaking-baby

Father jailed for shaking baby
By Tony Blais ,Edmonton Sun
First posted: Friday, February 24, 2012 06:34 PM MST | Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012 06:38 PM MST

A former Edmonton man was put behind bars Friday after admitting in court he had seriously injured his two-month-old daughter by shaking and twice throwing her.

Christopher Murphy, 25, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Adam Germain said Murphy “failed to protect the child” and then “put his interests before hers” by failing to reveal what happened.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Murphy had moved from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to Edmonton with his wife and their two children in the summer of 2008.

On Sept. 27, 2008, Murphy was unable to stop his infant daughter from crying and he threw her into her playpen, causing her to strike her head on a metal support bar.

The baby suffered bruising to her forehead and began vomiting and was unable to keep food down, court heard.

She was taken to emergency at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, but the throwing incident was not disclosed.

She was released, but continued to be unwell, suffering from increased lethargy and vomiting until Oct. 5, 2008.

Two days later, Murphy was left alone with the baby and he again could not stop her from crying, court heard.

“He stood over the couch and repeatedly and violently forced (the girl’s) back and head into the back of the couch. After this shaking, (she) cried harder and Murphy shook her again and then threw her into the couch, causing her head to strike a remote control and resulting in bruising to the inside of her ear,” say the agreed facts.

The infant began having numerous seizures and bouts of unconsciousness and vomiting. She also had bruising on her cheeks from Murphy “panicking” and squeezing her cheeks in an effort to wake her up after the shaking.

Murphy again did not reveal what he had done.

The baby was taken to hospital and testing eventually revealed she had suffered bleeding to her brain.

Murphy later confessed.

Court heard the baby has been diagnosed with symptoms consistent with shaken baby syndrome and there is currently “guarded optimism” about her prognosis.

The mother has since returned to Cape Breton with the children and is no longer together with Murphy.

In a victim impact statement, she said her “world was shattered” as a result of both the incident and of being initially treated by police as a suspect in the case.

“I was filled with anger towards him that will never go away,” she wrote, adding she wonders what to tell her daughter later when she asks questions.

“How can I let her grow up knowing that her own father hurt her this way,” she said in the statement.

In a letter read by his lawyer as he cried, Murphy admitted failing his “little girl” by hurting her and called it a “horrible lapse in judgment” and a “huge” mistake.

“I was impatient, careless and stupid,” he said.