Father gets jail term for death of infant
The soul of a grieving Southland mother was ‘‘ripped to pieces’’ when finding out her partner caused the death of their infant son.
Jenna Ashworth’s heartbreak was laid bare when she read her victim impact statement in open court yesterday, describing the anguish the death of her 11-week-old son, Honour Ashworth, had on her and her family.
She was speaking in the High Court at Invercargill during the sentencing of her former partner, Shamrock Fayne Mitchell, 44, who earlier admitted to the manslaughter death of their son.
Mitchell’s initial story to family and authorities was that Honour had suffered his fatal head injuries from falling off a couch, but he later admitted he had shaken his baby.
Ashworth said her soul had been ripped to pieces when she found out Mitchell had caused their son’s death.
She described Mitchell as a ‘‘disgusting, evil, excuse of a man’’.
Justice Nicholas Davidson sentenced Mitchell to four years and nine months’ jail, and imposed a minimum non-parole period of two years and six months.
The police summary of facts, read out by Crown lawyer Riki Donnelly, said Ashworth and her son were staying at Mitchell’s Riverton home on January 13, 2014.
Ashworth went to work, leaving Mitchell alone with his son, and at 7.23pm Mitchell called 111 and said Honour must have fallen off a couch and wasn’t breathing.
Honour was taken to Southland Hospital by ambulance and was diagnosed with haemorrhaging in the brain and eyes. He was transferred to Starship hospital in Auckland but died the next night.
An autopsy was carried out by a forensic pathologist, who said a fall from a low couch seemed unlikely to be the cause of the injuries.
In giving a second opinion, an overseas expert agreed, saying abusive head trauma had to be seriously considered.
When interviewed by police in early 2016, Mitchell said he was asleep before waking up to Honour screaming.
He ran out and saw Honour on the ground, picked him up and he went limp. He noticed stuff coming out of Honour’s mouth and nose, the summary says.
He put Honour up to his shoulder and gave him ‘‘a bit of a shake’’ but wouldn’t have hurt him while trying to get spew out of his mouth, he told police.
Six months later, Mitchell was again interviewed by police and, when confronted with the medical evidence, he admitted to having shaken Honour.
He said he awoke to Honour crying and went out to find him lying on the lounge floor beside the sofa still crying.
He picked Honour up and tried, unsuccessfully, to calm him and get him to drink some milk.
He said Honour would not drink milk or stop crying, so he held Honour under the arms and shook him, and his head went limp, the summary says.
Honour’s grandmother Kaye Hoffman also read her victim impact statement, saying the family had believed and accepted Mitchell’s story that Honour had fallen from the couch.
However, after Mitchell admitted the truth, she had been unable to get the details out of her head and she had since experienced stress and lack of sleep.
‘‘There’s a big piece of my family missing. He was a beautiful and happy boy.’’
Honour’s grandfather Robert Ashworth said he was struggling to comprehend how anyone could harm an 11-week-old baby.
Honour was his first grandson and he was ‘‘a contented wee boy’’, he said.
Defence lawyer John Westgate said Mitchell had no history of similar actions and there were no warning signs before the tragedy.
‘‘It makes it hard to explain and potentially more devastating, because it’s literally come out of the blue,’’ Westgate said.
Mitchell’s actions in shaking Honour were out of character, unexpected, and was an isolated incident.
Mitchell had initially been charged with murder but was never going to plead guilty because he never intended to kill his son, Westgate said.
When the charge was downgraded to manslaughter, he accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty.
Justice Davidson said the fragility of young children was often overlooked, and all caregivers, particularly parents, had an enormous obligation to protect them.
The lethal consequences of shaking babies had been well publicised, he said.
‘‘You were his father and there’s no greater breach of trust from a parent to a child.’’
Mitchell was now in a new relationship and had a son, the judge said.