Father who killed baby by shaking him in fit of rage jailed

A dad who killed his four-month-old baby son by shaking him in a fit of rage because he wouldn't feed was jailed for seven years and three months.

David Sinclair, 34, a supermarket worker, admitted the culpable homicide of his son Joshua at the family home at 12 Ontario Park, East Kilbride, on December 6, 2012 .

He was originally charged with murder, but admitted the reduced charge of killing his son, just days before he was due to go on trial.

He married his wife Kirsty, who is pregnant, on the anniversary of their son's first birthday on July 9, 2013.

She originally stood by Sinclair, but has now said she can no longer support him.

At the High Court in Glasgow judge Lord Bannatyne told Sinclair: "You assaulted your baby son by shaking him, causing the injuries which killed him.

"You must have known at the time you had shaken him, but you did not disclose that. It was only after extensive medical investigations you admitted what you had done.

"Your wife believed in you. She now feels she had been misled by you and can no longer support you."

Lord Bracadale described the effects of Joashua's death as "catastrophic" for all concerned and added: "Nothing can bring Joshua back."

The court heard that Sinclair has problems with anger management. He showed no emotion as he was led away to begin his sentence.

Earlier defence counsel Ian Duguid Q C said that Mrs Sinclair, who the court was told earlier was standing by her man, has not visited him in Barlinnie.

Mr Duguid added: “He hasn't seen his wife since the date of the last court proceedings. The continuance of their marriage is very much in doubt. She is expecting a child in three weeks.”

The QC added: “Mr Sinclair's position is he had been trying to feed his son Joshua who was unsettled and continued to cry. He became so angry he shook him for approximately five seconds. It was a momentary loss of control. He loved his son and feels deeply about this.

“If this had gone to trial 12 witnesses were prepared to come forward to vouch for the fact that Mr Sinclair appeared to be a perfectly decent and proud father of his son. His first child.”

Mr Duguid said that the case took so long to resolve because Sinclair could not accept his actions caused the baby's death and medical investigations were undertaken to see if Joshua was suffering from a genetic defect that would explain his injuries.

The court heard that Mrs Sinclair wrote a letter to Lord Bracadale stating her position.

Four days before the birth of his son Sinclair went to his GP stating he felt depressed and angry and with an urge to lash out and was prescribed an anti-depressant.

Prosecutor Ashley Edwards said that on December 6, 2012, Sinclair and his now wife and their baby Joshua went swimming and then shopping in East Kilbride.

At 5.30pm Kirsty Sinclair went out to meet her mother and sister.

Just 11 minutes later she received a phone call from Sinclair, who sounded shocked. He told her: “Joshua isn't breathing properly, come home right away,” then hung up and dialled 999.”

Sinclair was given instructions about giving Joshua CPR, but when a paramedic arrived he noted that he was either sitting on a chair or standing.

Miss Edwards said: “The accused was distressed and said: 'My son's not breathing.'

“Joshua Sinclair was lying face up on the floor. He was pale and appeared not to be breathing.”

The court heard that Sinclair claimed that Joshua had made a strange or different noise that wasn't normal and then stopped breathing.”

Joshua was rushed to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride and medical staff battled for almost an hour to save him.

Both his parents were in the resuscitation room throughout. Joshua was pronounced dead at 6.55pm.

During the resuscitation efforts Dr Andrew Palombo asked what had happened. Sinclair stated that Joshua had been sitting next to him on the sofa. He said the child turned blue and stopped breathing and he dialled 999.

Sinclair told police that he changed Joshua's nappy and then tried to feed him, but he didn't seem hungry. He then laid Joshua on his left side on the couch and sat next to him on his laptop.

Around five minutes later he said he heard Joshua making 'funny noises” which was normal for him. Then he heard a wheezing noise and went back to his computer and 20 or 30 seconds later heard a gasp and Joshua didn't have any expression on his face.

Sinclair told police he then heard another gasp and realised something might be wrong and started to panic.

Miss Edwards said: “In each statement the accused has given slightly different information.”

She added that a forensic examination of Sinclair's laptop established it was online from 4.19pm onwards and he was playing games on Facebook.

Initially the cause of Joshua's death was unascertained, but the case was reviewed by a team of medical experts and discovered evidence of trauma in the eyes and brain which could only have been caused non-accidentally close to the time of death.

In light of these reports the cause of death was recorded as head injury.

One of the experts Dr Peter Richards, consultant paediatric neuro-surgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, said: “This would be compatible with him having suffered a shaking injury involving handling at greater force than encountered in everyday life. It would be compatible with a shaking event where a carer who has not planned to injure a child has momentary loss of control with tragic consequences.”

Another expert Dr Thomas Jacques from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London said that the features in this case were “those of a head injury occurring closed to the time of death.”

Sinclair's wife was not in court to see her husband sentenced.

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