18 months for father who left his baby daughter needing of 24 hour care

A father who shook his baby so severely that she will be disabled for the rest of her life has been jailed for 18 months

Foyjul Islam, 34, decided to sleep in bed next to the six-week-old while his wife went out to the shops.

Islam awoke up to find his daughter ‘unresponsive, floppy and pale’ and summoned an ambulance to the family home in Bow, east London, on 24 March 2018.

She had suffered a ruptured retina and was left with permanent brain damage, Inner London Crown Court heard.

Judge Nigel Peters said: ‘The dreadful phrase from the medical report is: ‘She is never going to be able to look after herself’.

‘There are serious physical, developmental, and emotional harms arising from this incident.’

Doctors at the Royal Free Hospital also found the baby had also sustained fractured ribs, suggesting she had been squeezed or gripped with force more than two weeks earlier.

Lesley Bates, prosecuting, said: ‘She is unable to speak, unable to stand or walk.

‘She will require care for the remainder of her life.

‘She will always require assistance in some form.

‘The first incident resulted in broken ribs, a serious injury to a baby of up to three weeks of age.

‘The second incident resulted in brain injuries, a retinal haemorrhage, and a fractured clavicle.’

Richard Barraclough QC, defending Islam, said: ‘Some of the injuries may have resulted from the delivery of the baby with forceps.

‘The notion of “baby shaking” is not necessarily shaking, it can be picking up the baby badly and allowing the neck to jerk.

‘He is having to live with the guilt and the shame, and he is having to live with consequences of his actions, as he is involved with her care.’

Islam’s extended family sent in multiple character references and watched from the public gallery as he was sentenced.

Judge Peters said: ‘Anyone in the dock would be very proud of having so many people prepared to say so many nice things, it goes without saying.

‘Mr Islam, the jury convicted you of two counts of causing cruelty to a person under 16.

‘These cases are always the saddest, where parents with their first child have lacked proper parenting skills and resorted to violence.

‘The results is the child will never be able to look after herself, and will always need care.

‘It is fortunate to some extent that you have an extended family and her aunt, your sister, is devoted to her care.

‘Your wife went out shopping, leaving you with a child of some 6 weeks.

‘You were both warned that due to your epilepsy, that it would be unsafe for you to be with the baby on your own.

‘You decided to have a nap with her in the same bed.

‘You say you woke up and found her in a bad way.

‘Thanks to the amazing medics, the paramedics, the nurses, doctors, and specialists at the London Royal Free Hospital, she survived.

‘She was unresponsive on arrival, floppy and pale.

‘For a six-week-old baby this is a massive injury.

‘They found six rib fractures that must have occurred some time earlier, and a more recent rib fracture.

‘There was haemorrhaging to her retina and massive injuries to her eyes and brain.

‘The vast of amount of evidence is that these injuries were non-accidental.

‘The injuries to the ribs were caused by forcibly gripping when she was six weeks old. Those injuries remained undetected.

‘The child clearly must have suffered from the rib injuries.

‘Those injuries occurred from inappropriate handling, and allowing the head to snap back, or picking up the baby by the wrist or arm and allowing the head to snap.

‘I understand that any sentence will be devastating for you and your family, but the law compels me to pass a custodial sentence.’

The judge reduced Islam’s jail sentence from four years to three years ‘due to covid-19 conditions’.

Islam, of Jodrell Road, Bow, denied but was convicted of two counts of wilfully assaulting and causing cruelty to a person under 16.

He will be released on licence after serving half of the sentence.
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