17 February 2024 , 11:40
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A thug who shook a month-old baby so hard it left him blind and completely paralysed has been jailed.
Adam Andrews, 37, inflicted a head injury so severe the child will never be able to walk or talk and will need 24-hour care. Andrews, from Suffolk, has been jailed for three years. The incident happened in June 2018, when the victim was just 21 days old.
Ipswich Crown Court heard that nobody, except Andrews, knows precisely what happened. The baby was taken to West Suffolk Hospital before being transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital. Prosecutor Steven Perian KC said Andrews had shown “absolutely no remorse” since the incident. Andrews' defence said the shaking likely happened over just a few seconds and "was a spontaneous loss of control".
A statement from the boy's mother was read out in court. She said: “His bedroom is not filled with toys but with feed machines and medical equipment.
“He will never be able to have food or water and has to be fed by a button attached to his bowel.” She added that the boy suffers between 30 and 40 seizures a day.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
She said: “I have to watch my child deteriorate for what this man has done in a burst of outrage of anger. He should not be allowed to walk the streets while I care for my child around the clock.
“I have to accept it’s very likely I’m going to outlive my child. When I fall asleep every night my biggest fear is [he] will not wake up with me.” There were claps from the public gallery as she finished, but Andrews did not react to the speech or his sentence.
The defendant, of Great Whelnetham, had previously been found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent against the child in 2022 but was convicted of a lesser charge of grievous bodily harm without intent. Judge David Pugh told Andrews in the dock: "Precisely what happened later that night and why, only you will know."