A man has been found guilty of murdering his four-week-old son after a trial at Bristol Crown Court. The defendant, who cannot be named, was accused of fatally injuring the baby at the family home in Somerset on July 16, 2022.
The baby, Atticus, collapsed at his home in Chard, Somerset, and was rushed to hospital, where he died shortly before midnight on July 23, 2022. The prosecution argued that the defendant had shaken his infant son with force sufficient to kill him, causing multiple rib fractures and brain damage.
A witness, the baby's mother, described coming downstairs to find their son floppy and grey in colour, and said she screamed and ran out of the house. She told jurors that she did not cause the fatal injuries to their son, contrary to the defendant's claims.
The defendant had claimed that he did not harm his son, and instead pointed the finger of blame at the mother. However, the jury unanimously found him guilty of murder after hearing evidence that he had used unlawful and significant force against his own son.
The judge, Mr Justice Cavanagh, remanded the defendant into custody to be sentenced on July 24, and said that the only sentence for murder was a life sentence. The judge thanked the jurors for their "care and attention" to the case and released them from jury service for the next five years.
Members of the baby's family gasped and wept in the public gallery of courtroom two after the verdict was read out. The defendant, who appeared by videolink from the dock, sobbed loudly. The prosecution had told jurors that the defendant, who was drunk at the time, had killed his son in a moment of "pure violence".
