Parents jailed for baby death

The parents of a baby girl who died with 65 broken bones after a ‘brutal, vicious attack’ have been jailed for a total of over 15 years.

Naomi Johnson, 24, and former army reservist Benjamin O’Shea, 26, were arrested after the sudden death of their eight-week-old daughter Amina on 26 April 2019.

When they noticed their daughter had stopped breathing, O’Shea and Johnson called paramedics who performed CPR but were unable to save the baby’s life.

Sudden Unexplained Death was initially thought to be the cause of death but a post-mortem revealed a catalogue of injuries.

Amina had 65 broken bones including 41 fractures in her ribs and 24 limb bone fractures.

The first fractures were discovered during a radiological exam carried out because there were no visible injuries to Amina’s body.

Radiologists said the fractures were highly indicative that she had suffered physical abuse.
but no exact cause of death has been established.

As a result of these findings the police launched an investigation and arrested O’Shea and Johnson in early May 2019.

The couple have repeatedly lied about the circumstances leading to little Amina’s death and have even blamed paramedics for the fractures, Inner London Crown Court heard.

They suggested that Amina’s death could have been a result of the innoculations she had received when they took her to the GP a day before her death and that her rib fractures were caused by the paramedics performing CPR.

Edmund Vickers, defending, said that O’Shea had also performed CPR in an attempt to save his daughter’s life.

‘The consequences finally caught up with them and they panicked,’ said Judge Nigel Peters.

Mr Vickers also said that as O’Shea did not know the cause of death, he was exploring the reasons for the rib fractures by suggesting the paramedics were responsible.

After Amina’s death, O’Shea wrote a letter to the police on ‘semi-official’ notepaper pretending to be the ‘Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’ suggesting that any proceedings were ‘not in order.’

He also telephoned the police pretending to be a neighbour in an attempt to shift blame onto Johnson.

‘He was never charged with perverting the course of justice nor was he charged with wasting police time,’ said Mr Vickers.

‘He accepts the jury’s verdict and has no wish to challenge that.’

The couple”s text messages revealed a ‘manipulative and abusive’ relationship with O’Shea boasting of his military service when in fact he had only been a reservist for a couple of years.

There were messages describing how they had slapped a second child and denied him water because he had soiled himself.

O’Shea also sent a text to Johnson discussing his difficulty at keeping calm after that child knocked over a drink in a fast food restaurant.

O’Shea had also made numerous calls to NHS 111 between 2016 and 2019 referring to his self-diagnosed PTSD and his aggression issues.

He said his PTSD was a result of a tour in Afghanistan but this was ‘totally untrue’, Judge Peters said.

Detectives found a call Johnson had made to NHS 111 on 1 April 2019 reporting that Amina had been coughing blood.

When the doctor phoned back and spoke to O’Shea advising him to take Amina to hospital, O’Shea failed to tell Johnson and the child stayed at home.

Later, in police interviews, they denied injuring the child.

Johnson, of Octavia Street, Battersea and O’Shea, of Dominion Drive, Southwark, were convicted of one count of causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm and two counts of cruelty to a child after a four-week trial.

O’Shea received eight years and eight months and Johnson received seven years and eight months.

Judge Peters said: ‘This is sadly yet another harrowing case of parents abusing and being cruel to their children.

‘There were at least seven occasions when the injuries occurred. There were 41 rib fractures and 24 limb fractures, both left, right arm, left, right leg, culminating in the worst injury of the lot, a massive fracture to the right femur.

‘On the evidence itself that could only have been caused by a brutal, vicious, attack.

‘It is remarkable in this case that there were no signs externally of her fractures. The evidence from all the medics who examined the baby post-mortem was that they were all non-accidental.’

He added that both parents shared equal blame because as long-term carers, it is inconceivable that they would not have noticed that the baby was suffering.

‘The evidence is that significant force was used to break the right femur. The baby would have been in great distress and pain as a result and therefore whether perpetrator or not, the significant distress would be such that any long-term carer would notice that.’

Explaining his reasons for giving O’Shea a higher sentence, he said: ‘Your behaviour post the death of the child merits aggravation. It shows an intent on your part to interfere with the process of justice.’