24 Hours in Police Custody viewers have slammed the three year sentence given to a ‘smug father’ who was found guilty of shaking his seven-week-old baby, leaving him with cerebral palsy, blind and with multiple bleeds behind the eyes.
In last night’s episode of the Channel 4 show, Daniel Gilbert, 21, claimed he ‘nipped to the toilet’ when his young son sustained life-changing injuries – before trying to pin blame on the child’s mother, Vikki, 19.
During an interview, a detective updated the couple on their baby’s condition and explained: ‘We now know that he has sustained injuries to his brain, eyes and ribs.
‘He’s got cerebral palsy in four limbs, he’s potentially blind, deaf, he’s suffered bleeding at the back of the eyeballs – that’s not just a bleed, that’s multiple bleeds. He has the inability to eat or drink without the help of tubes in his stomach.
‘He’ll need 24 care for the remainder of his life. It’s unlikely there’ll be any improvement in his current condition.’
And viewers were disgusted when Daniel, who was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent at crown court, was sentenced to only three years in prison.
‘Shaking a baby to the point it‘s got cerebral palsy, it’s deaf, blind and had multiple bleeds behind it’s eyes and ya get 3 F****ing YEARS?? How embarrassing is this country’s justice system?? Can make a baby but can’t protect one. Evil horrible b******,’ wrote one.
At 11.26, Bedfordshire police received a call from the ambulance service saying there was a baby in cardiac arrest and bleeding from the nose and mouth. Pictured, Daniel Gilbert in his police interview
The brain scan of the injured baby showed bleeding on the brain (pictured)
Viewers were disgusted when Daniel, who was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent at crown court, was sentenced to only three years in prison (pictured)
A second commented: ‘Watching #24hoursinpolicecustody and I cannot fathom how people harm their children who are only weeks old! Absolutely sick people,’ while a third raged:
‘Watching 24 hours in police custody and a guy shook his 7 week old baby and broke his ribs, caused him the most severe life long brain damage, made him blind and deaf and he needs 24/7 care for the rest of his life.. he got 3 YEARS in prison. Scum of the f**** earth.’
During the episode, Bedfordshire police received a call from the ambulance service who said there was a baby with injuries so severe, they wanted to alert the police.
After medical examination showed a significant brain injury which the staff said was inflicted, the baby’s parents were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and taken in for interviewing.
‘We went into the kitchen at which point I saw on the floor, a naked baby,’ a paramedic explained to DC Hart, who was investigating the baby shaking case. ‘It was soaking wet. It had blood coming from its nose.
‘I did a quick assessment of the child at which point the child took once last breath really, so I just literally scooped up the baby and went outside. Never have I experienced blood coming from an orifice without any kind of trauma really.’
Daniel was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent at crown court and sentenced to 3 years in prison (pictured)
At 11.26, Bedfordshire police received a call from the ambulance service saying there was a baby in cardiac arrest and bleeding from the nose and mouth. Pictured, Daniel Gilbert in his police interview
Vikki, who by her own admission had difficulty bonding with her son, pictured in her cell at the police station
Taking to social media, one person wrote: ‘It’s utterly heartbreaking’ (pictured)
He continued: ‘When we got to hospital, the dad he did look upset, but he was almost excitable. He was going in and out of the A&E department constantly. He didn’t want to say and see them working on him and trying to save the child.
‘He did appear upset but it was more of a stressed upset.
‘They weren’t sobbing or asking us what was going on or what was happening. They were making phone calls. It just didn’t feel right.’
The critically ill baby was then moved to intensive care at Great Ormond Street hospital and the parents were provided with accommodation whilst he was there.
But when they were both taken in for questioning, Daniel responded ‘no comment’, while Vikki, who by her own admission had difficulty bonding with her son, opened up.
‘At about 5 past 11 Daniel was taking him upstairs and then about quarter past, Daniel came running down the stairs with him in his arms and he was floppy,’ she explained. ‘I was so confused. My first reaction was to go and get my mum.
‘I was like, “put him in some water”. I thought maybe that might wake him up. Then I heard Daniel calling me and telling me he wasn’t breathing. They were asking me about it and obviously I didn’t know because I wasn’t there when something happened to him.’
Soon, officers were given a debrief on the case and told that it was being treated as an attempted murder. The case was referred to the major crime unit for further investigation.
Dc Martin Hart arrested Daniel Gilbert outside Great Ormond Street Hospital (pictured)
DI Justine Jenkins from the Major Crime Unit explained: ‘We are here to investigate the most serious of crimes because we do have more resources to throw at investigations.
‘Ordinarily we wouldn’t take a case when baby hasn’t died but the prognosis for this baby is so poor and life-limiting, that it was right for us to take it.’
Explaining to her team the account they have to date, she said: ‘Dad takes baby upstairs to put him to sleep in the moses basket and around 11 o’clock, goes to pick up baby and he is limp.
‘Baby goes to hospital, a skeletal survey shows numerous rib fractures, certainly one of the fractures is showing signs of healing and they think that has been caused prior to the head injury.’
Meanwhile, during his interview Daniel started to speak and alleged: ‘What my mum and sister told me was at Vikki’s, when I went to the toilet, Vikki picked him up by his legs and swung him up.
‘She wrote it in a note in hospital but her mum read it out, I wasn’t really listening to it but the bit I heard was, “I hope you can forgive me in the future.” To me, she’s hiding something, but I don’t know what.’
Struggling to get to the bottom of it, the detective explained: ‘The problem that we’ve got here, the biggest problem, is that those injuries were caused very close to when that ambulance was called. The baby is, as far as you’ve stated, with Vikki to start with, and then you’ve taken him from her and taken him upstairs.
Daniel Gilbert said he ‘nipped to the toilet’ when he was interviewed by police
‘So in that last period of time, you appear to be present with your baby at all times – unless I’ve got that mistaken.’
After a pause, Daniel said: ‘I nipped to the toilet once. That was at 10 to 11. I was a minute or two.’
The detective continued: ‘Apart from that one to two minutes you are with him at all times, you have either – apart from this toilet business which has just popped up – you have either seen the injury happen to him, or you’re responsible. Unless what you’re saying is Vikki is responsible for that injury in the two minutes you were in the toilet.
‘It only takes seconds, don’t it? It could’ve taken seconds, but I did not do this,’ says Daniel.
Both parents were eventually released pending investigation as the case was sent to the Crown Prosecution’s complex crime unit for review.
Ten months later, Daniel was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent at crown court and sentenced to 3 years in prison. The mother, Vikki, was not charged.
The baby was continuing to survive beyond any medical prognosis and has since been adopted by the foster parents who have been caring for him.
Taking to social media, one viewers wrote: ‘That was the worst thing I’ve ever watched…I literally feel sick,’ while a second commented: ‘That was a tough watch. Three years for them appalling injuries to that poor baby. Should be a 0 in front of that.’
A third added: ‘Bit of a sickener that one,’ while a fourth added: ‘Anyone else in shock and disbelief in what they’ve just watched? I feel sick to my stomach the sight of that poor baby lifeless and hearing all those injuries is beyond sad.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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