Man given life for killing lover’s son
A MAN has been jailed for life for murdering his girlfriend’s 13-month-old son.
Noah Serra-Morrison was found dead on November 21 2015 after suffering 15 fractures to his body, including a 6in (15cm) wound across his skull.
Mr Justice Jeremy Barker, sitting at Luton Crown Court, described Hardeep Hunjan, 27, as a man with a “volatile nature” who had inflicted a series of assaults on the toddler.
He said Ronnie Tayler-Morrison, 22, had failed in her duty as a mother because she did nothing to stop the attacks by her lover. She was “fixated” with her lover even though he attacked her and was a danger to her son, the judge said.
Medical experts said the toddler’s injuries were so severe they were similar to those arising from a car crash or a fall from a building. Noah would have been severely brain-damaged if he had survived.
Hunjan, 27, was sentenced to life for murder with a minimum term of 23 years and two years for child cruelty.
He was also sentenced to 13 years for grievous bodily harm with intent arising from a separate incident where he brutally attacked a vulnerable neighbour, by punching her in the face, swinging her into a wall. He left her with a series of injuries across her face and body.
Tayler-Morrison, 22, who was cleared of murder, was sentenced to six-and-a half years in jail for causing or allowing the death of a child and two years for child cruelty. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The couple, of Crawley Road, Luton, had binged on drink and drugs during Noah’s last hours.
The judge told the couple: “I am satisfied that neither of you provided a truthful account of what happened on that night.”
The judge told Hunjan that “it remains a mystery why you attacked him” and pointed out that the boy had been unwell in recent days, probably as a result of his fractures.”