Jailed for six and a half years, father who killed his baby girl for crying
A FATHER who killed his three month-old daughter because she would not stop crying was jailed for just six-and-a-half years yesterday.
Traherne Williams could be freed in a little over three years, despite hurling Sophia Williams onto a couch, causing catastrophic brain damage.
A judge heard he became ‘absolutely frustrated’ when the baby would not stop crying. The 23-year-old later lied about harming his daughter, telling a doctor Sophia fell at a family centre they were staying at in Broxburn, West Lothian.
The baby never recovered from the injuries inflicted by Williams and died in hospital in June 2016.
Under sentencing rules, Williams will be eligible to apply for parole half way through his sentence, meaning he could be out of jail after just three-and-a-quarter years.
Williams and his partner, Shannon Main, originally faced a murder charge. But Williams instead admitted the reduced charge of culpable homicide, while 20-year-old Main’s not guilty plea was accepted.
After yesterday’s hearing at the High Court in Glasgow, critics said the sentence handed down to Williams ‘simply isn’t long enough’.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘This is a tragic and horrifying case. People will feel revulsion that this individual not only killed an innocent baby, but his own flesh and blood.
‘Lessons must be learned by those agencies who had been involved from the start. Thanks to the SNP’s soft-touch approach, he could be out in only a few years, and many will feel that simply isn’t long enough for this barbaric act.’
The court heard that social workers were involved with the family from when Sophia was only two weeks old due to ‘concerns’ about the couple’s parenting abilities.
They ended up at the Strathbrock Family Unit in Broxburn while waiting for a home of their own.
On May 30, 2016, the pair were at the unit with Sophia when Main tried to feed her, but she was found to be ‘less responsive than usual’ and her parents were later not able to rouse her. Main then contacted St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian.
Prosecutor Angela Gray said: ‘When paramedics arrived, it was immediately apparent the child was extremely sick.’
Sophia was taken to hospital where it was initially feared she had meningitis but a consultant believed her brain injury was ‘highly suspicious of non-accidental injury’. Sophia never recovered and was pronounced dead on June 4.
Williams was questioned by police, but denied assaulting his daughter. Miss Gray said: ‘He stated he may have done something accidentally. He did not specify precisely what.’
The prosecutor said the guilty plea was accepted on the basis that Williams ‘became frustrated at his inability’ to stop Sophia crying while alone with her on May 30.
He was then said to have ‘forcibly thrown her onto a couch’.
Sentencing Williams, Judge Lord Matthews said: ‘You became frustrated and threw the defenceless child – your own flesh and blood – onto a sofa.
‘This was before she had any real chance of enjoying the gift of life, which you helped give her.’