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See What This Dad’s Alleged Nasty Temper Cost Him

See What This Dad’s Alleged Nasty Temper Cost Him

A dad, Adam Stokes, 33, killed his nine-week-old baby daughter after losing his temper and shaking her so vigorously she suffered devastating brain injuries.

According to Mirror UK, the baby girl, Scarlett Stokes-Craig, suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital, on January 14 2013. She was treated at Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital but she never regained consciousness and her life support machine was turned off ten days later.

Stokes claimed Scarlett collapsed without warning while he was feeding and winding her, but a jury at Luton Crown Court refused to believe him and instead convicted him of manslaughter.

Judge Maura McGowan, sitting at the Old Bailey, sentenced Stokes to seven years imprisonment.

She said: “Something happened which caused you to treat her with an unacceptable level of force. Most likely you shook her having lost your temper for some reason. I entirely accept it was unplanned and the terrible consequences were totally unintended. But you were not at the end of your tether, as sometimes happens in these cases. Scarlett was a good and placid baby who almost always slept through the night. Whatever you did caused the death of Scarlett, and you will have to live with the fact you killed your daughter for the rest of your life.”

The judge accepted Stokes was normally a “good father” and said the incident would have lasted a “matter of moments”.

“It was brief and unplanned and I have no doubt at all you did not intend to cause her serious harm. She was vulnerable, only nine weeks old, and trusted to your care. She was your daughter and your duty was to protect and cherish her – in these few brief moments you failed,” the judge added.

Stokes, giving evidence during his trial, said he got up just before 7am to feed his daughter, taking her out of the moses basket and putting her over his lap.

Stokes likened his daughter to a ‘rag doll’ when she collapsed, and called the emergency services when he realised she had stopped breathing.

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He was told how to administer CPR by 999 operators, and was still trying to revive his daughter when paramedics arrived.

Stokes failed to reveal that he had shaken Scarlett and denied manslaughter, which the judge said “does you no credit”.

The court also heard Scarlett had suffered a serious medical condition when she was born, and the day before the attack by Stokes she had stopped breathing after a bout of vomiting.

Stokes showed no emotion as he was jailed, as his family looking on from the public gallery.

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