Teenage dad who shook three-week-old baby daughter to death jailed for eight years

Edinburgh High Court heard how the dad inflicted “catastrophic” brain injuries

Prosecutors accepted Haining's plea to the lesser charge of culpable homicide (PA)

A teenage dad who shook his three-week-old baby daughter to death has been jailed for eight years.

Thomas Haining, now 21, pleaded guilty to killing his daughter Mikayla at the family home in Inverness on June 8, 2017 – but denied the charge of murder.

The Crown accepted his guilty plea to the lesser offence of culpable homicide, and he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The court heard how he inflicted “catastrophic” brain injuries on his daughter during a “momentary loss of control”, leaving her in a coma with a fractured skull and several broken ribs.

Mikayla's head was struck against a door during the attack.

Haining had stayed up on the night of June 7, 2017 to look after Mikayla, who had been crying more than usual and suffering from diarrhoea in the few days before her death.

With his ex-girlfriend Shannon Davies asleep upstairs in their Inverness home, Haining claimed to have taken Mikayla out of her Moses basket to feed her in the early hours of June 8, after which he said she became sleepy and unresponsive.

Phone records showed Haining had made four internet searches during this time, trying to find out information about babies being in a coma and querying: “What happens if a newborn baby is shaken hard?”

Paramedics were called and took her to hospital where she was placed in intensive care with a ventilator, having suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of the head trauma.

Later that afternoon, the baby was taken off life support and placed into her mother’s arms where she passed away at 4.46pm.

After two years of denying he had killed his daughter, Crown prosecutors accepted a guilty plea from Haining to the charge of culpable homicide on September 5.

Shelagh McCall QC, representing Haining, told the court on Tuesday he was prepared for a lengthy time in jail and that he now “hated” himself.

She claimed the killer panicked after the event but he now wishes he had come clean about his actions sooner.

Ms McCall said: “He described himself as reflecting that he should have manned up at that time and told the truth, as a clear acknowledgement from Mr Haining that he was solely responsible for what happened and that he ought to have told the truth far sooner than he did.”

She added: “He is preparing for a significant custodial sentence, he feels this is justified due to the severity of his actions, stating that he is disgusted with himself, that he hated himself for what he has done.”

The court heard the 21-year-old had a troubled upbringing and a history of violence as a teenager, although he had no previous criminal convictions.

Judge Lord Pentland said: “In the early hours of June 8, 2017, you killed your baby daughter Mikayla.

“I use the term ‘killed’ advisably, as the Crown has accepted your late plea of guilty to culpable homicide and not to insist on the original more serious allegation of murder, on the basis you didn’t deliberately intend to kill Mikayla.

“Mikayla was 23 days old. She was in your sole care at the time of her death.

“You shook her, causing her head to strike the door that she was so severely injured that she later died.

“Anyone knows that to shake a baby is very dangerous.

“It was clearly a violent and severe assault on a highly vulnerable baby.

“After the attack, you delayed in seeking assistance and for a time attempted to conceal what you had done.

“Your immediate reaction was to protect yourself, rather than seek help for Mikayla.”

Haining was sentenced to eight years in prison, backdated to September 11.

The judge said the sentence would have been nine years if it had gone to trial.

Additional reporting Press Association