Telford parents sentenced for cruelty to baby

Sitting at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday, Judge Jonathan Gosling said that the 21-year-old mother and 24-year-old father from Telford had caused a number of injuries to the baby due to their lack of parenting skills but had not acted with malice.

The pair had both pleaded guilty to cruelty to a person under the age of 16 between April 20, 2015 and May 4, 2015.

Judge Gosling ruled that the pair should come under the care of a probation officer and imposed a community order on each of them for two years. The mother was sentenced to a 20 day rehabilitation order and the father to 30 days rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that the baby had been taken to hospital by his parents on May 4, 2015 where doctors found that he had a fracture to his right knee.

Further examinations, including scans and x-rays, were undertaken and injuries to his left knee, both ankles and a number of ribs were discovered. Some of the injuries were healing and others were fresh. There was also unexplained bruising to the baby's body.

Prosecutor Sophie Murray said that it was unclear to doctors whether the injuries were accidental or not. "The birth of the baby had been unusual," said Ms Murray. "Some of the injuries could have been picked up during the birth. The father however admits there were three separate occasions when he roughly handled the baby, when he dropped the baby and when he sat on him.

"He accepts his parenting was not good enough. But he did not assault the baby in the four weeks of his life."

Judge Gosling said: "This is not a case of deliberate wickedness. The baby was injured because his parents were inadequate. This was not done out of malice. This was a case of neglect. The baby is now in the care of others and has made a complete recovery. He will know nothing of his experience.

"Both understand the gravity of their actions."