A babysitter who admitted shaking a 43-day old baby, leaving the tot brain damaged, has been jailed. Teacher Jonathan Sinfield was caring for the baby when the incident occurred in Bath, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Initially he reported that the child become ill and knocked its head against a sofa. He later went on to claim he had dropped the tot from around a metre.
Due to the baby's injuries, though, medical experts diagnosed the baby had been gripped forcefully and shaken. Ultimately Sinfield, 30, whose address was given as Cradley in Herefordshire, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The court heard his career as a teacher is finished.
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Judge William Hart jailed him for three years - giving Sinfield a 25 percent discount on the five-year maximum jail term for guilty pleas. He told Sinfield: "I cannot ignore the delay in telling the hospital the mechanism of the baby's injury.
"They took many hours to diagnose what happened. If you had the courage to come clean things could have been different."
Richard Posner, prosecuting, said medical experts concurred the baby sustained bleeding behind its eyes and brain damage as a result of violent shaking. Sinfield initially told police he may have been heavy-handed with the child before the child fell to the floor.
The court heard the child suffered brain damage, mobility and sight impairment and bruising as a result of the assault. His future medical condition remains uncertain.
Barry White, defending, said his client's guilty plea was indicative of his acceptance of what he did and his regret for having done it. Mr White said it was not an easy thing for Sinfield to admit harming the baby.
He told the court the incident was a short-lived loss of control and not pre-meditated. He said, at the time, second lockdown was looming, his client was suffering stress at work as a result and was run down and unwell.
Mr White told the court: "For a short number of seconds he lost his cool. Without intending to he caused real and significant damage to many lives."
Detective Constable Mark Wilkes said: "I'd like to praise the victim's family for their patience and courage throughout what has undoubtedly been a difficult and painful investigation for them. This is a very sad incident that has been made worse by the web of lies spun by Jonathan Sinfield.
"Doctors and nurses did an incredible job caring for the victim, but Sinfield's failure to tell them an honest account of what happened made their task all the harder and exemplified his selfish attitude.
"At no stage has he shown any remorse. He continued to refuse to admit to causing horrific harm to a defenceless baby until police confronted him with overwhelming evidence that meant it was in his interest to plead guilty.
"No sentence will ever be enough to fully reflect the lifelong harm Sinfield caused the victim and their family, but we welcome the judge's decision to impose a custodial term. Sinfield will have to learn to live the rest of his life knowing what he did to an innocent child."
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