County Durham mother who allowed daughter's death loses sentence appeal
A woman jailed for allowing the death of her daughter at the hands of her partner has lost a bid to reduce her sentence at the Court of Appeal.
A County Durham mother, who was jailed for allowing the death of her toddler at the hands of her then-partner, has lost an appeal to reduce her sentence.
Dana Carr, 24, was convicted at Teesside Crown Court in November 2023 of allowing the death of her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maya Chappell and child cruelty, and was jailed for nine years the following month.
Her former partner, Michael Daymond, then 27, was found guilty of Maya's murder and child cruelty and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years, after the trial heard that he had shaken her to death after learning his Universal Credit had been stopped and being threatened over drug debts.
Maya, whom sentencing judge Mr Justice Bright described as "unique and wonderful and, above all, irreplaceable", was murdered in September 2022 after being mistreated by Daymond over several weeks.
Carr, whom Mr Justice Bright said had "lied prodigiously and without compulsion at every stage", challenged her sentence at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, but three senior judges dismissed her appeal on Wednesday.
Lord Justice Singh, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mrs Justice Hill, said: "The total sentence of nine years can be described as severe, but was not wrong in principle or manifestly excessive."
The judge said Maya died from "severe and unsurvivable brain damage" after being "violently shaken with severe and extreme force" by Daymond.
The jury at Teesside Crown Court heard that Daymond and Carr had only been dating for a matter of weeks when he moved in with her and Maya at an address in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, with a significant number of bruises then beginning to appear on Maya's body.
Daymond would message Carr while she was at work with a series of lies to cover up his behaviour, but, despite being alerted to the situation, Carr did nothing to stop her daughter from getting hurt, instead telling Daymond she loved him and would not leave him.
Daymond had sole care of Maya on the afternoon of September 28 2022, when he was threatened over a drug debt and informed that his Universal Credit had been cut, before attacking Maya.
His inquiries about his benefits continued on the phone, once he had dialled 999, as paramedics performed first aid on the stricken toddler.
Maya was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle but never regained consciousness and died two days later.
Sentencing Carr, Mr Justice Bright acknowledged that she "never hit Maya or hurt her or harmed her in any way" and said he had "no doubt whatsoever" that she loved her daughter and was "distraught" about her death.
But he said her "emotional immaturity and selfishness" had caused her to "pay attention only to your own desire for a relationship".
At the appeal hearing in London, Toby Hedworth KC, for Carr, said she was a "very damaged young woman" who "craved affection" due to her personal background.
He said: "The mitigation should have led to a reduction (in the sentence), rather than leading to a significant uplift."
He continued: "The balance has unfortunately gone wrong in this case and there should be a substantial downward adjustment to the sentence that was imposed."
But the three judges dismissed the appeal, with Lord Justice Singh concluding: "Nine years can be described as severe, but that reflected the seriousness of the appellant's offending and this court cannot properly interfere with it."
Carr, who attended the hearing via video-link from HMP Low Newton, showed no reaction as her appeal was dismissed.
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