Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
There’s few things worse than killing a child as thug caged for brutal death of 3-year-old
Judge blasts Whoriskey
A CHILD killer was blasted by a judge after he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail yesterday.
Liam Whoriskey was convicted over the brutal death of Kayden Mcguinness in 2017.
The three-year-old sustained bruises on the scalp and succumbed to bleeding of the brain.
Judge Philip Babington said: “There are few worse crimes than causing the death of a child.”
A MAN jailed yesterday for the killing of a three-year-old child will appeal his sentence, it has emerged.
Sentencing Liam Whoriskey for the manslaughter of Kayden Mcguinness, the judge told him: “There are few worse crimes than causing the death of a young child.”
However, the 25-year-old has instructed his legal team to lodge papers with the Court of Appeal.
Whoriskey was told at the Crown Court in Derry he was being sentenced to 15 years with half in custody over the death of his fiancee’s son.
Despite a jury unanimously finding him guilty two months ago of the manslaughter of Kayden in the boy’s family home at Colmcille Court in the Bogside area of Derry on September 17, 2017, and child cruelty the month before the child’s death, Whoriskey still maintains his innocence.
The accused, from Glenabbey Gardens in the Skeoge area of the city, became engaged to Kayden’s mother Erin Mclaughlin a week before he killed her vulnerable son.
Whoriskey showed no emotion when he was jailed by Judge Philip Babington. He has already served two years in custody since Kayden’s death.
WEPT
Ms Mclaughlin wept in court as Judge Babington passed sentence.
The senior investigating police officer said yesterday he wanted people to remember Kayden as “a beautiful three years old Derry boy who, in his family’s own words, was a happy, smiling and much loved child”.
Det Insp Peter Mckenna added: “On the night Kayden died, his mum was going to visit her family.
“However, she left the house late because she wanted to put her kids to bed that night the way she did every night.
“When she put Kayden to bed she gave him three little kisses and told him how much she loved him.
“Having met Kayden’s whole family, I know that is how they all felt about him, they absolutely doted on him.
“Throughout this investigation Whoriskey has shown no remorse for what he did.”
Judge Babington said the killer had “submitted Kayden to a battering” on the night he babysat the boy and his five-month-old sister Skylar in their family home.
Kayden was found dead in his bed by Whoriskey, who had failed to
check on the boy for 10 hours.
As a result of one or two of the blows, bleeding in the form of a subdural haemorrhage occurred which resulted in a swelling of the brain.
Judge Babington said: “The medical evidence was it was a combination of the subdural haemorrhage and the cerebral oedema that was responsible for Kayden’s death.
“Kayden’s death was unlikely to have been immediate as there were subtle changes in his brain indicating a period of survival of at least half an hour after the fatal head injury was sustained.”
He added there were a number of aggravating factors in the case.
The judge said: “At the time of his death he was being assessed in relation to autism. He had very little by way of communication skills and his speech was very limited. All in all he was a particularly vulnerable child.
“The defendant was in a position of a parent or guardian at the relevant time. He could be said to have been in the position almost of stepfather and living in the same accommodation as Kayden.
“His treatment of Kayden represents an extremely serious breach of trust.
“The acts leading to the unlawful killing of Kayden were not isolated as the jury found he had previously assaulted Kayden on
August 15, 2017. As the prosecution suggest, his actions represent a progression from the earlier event. “The defendant’s behaviour illustrated that he had a propensity for aggression and violence in a domestic setting and in particular the former relating to children.”
Judge Babington said another aggravating factor was Whoriskey’s defence team had accused Ms Mclaughlin of being “potentially the person responsible for the injuries causing Kayden’s death”.
Whoriskey, who moved in with Ms Mclaughlin six weeks before he killed her son, told a probation officer he believed he was the victim of domestic violence.
Judge Babington said he had read victim impact reports from Ms Mclaughlin and from Kayden’s grandmother Kathleen Mcguinness.
He said: “This court can only express its sympathy as any sentence imposed on the defendant pales into insignificance when contrasted with the fact a very young child has died in this way.
“One can only hope this trial brings some form of closure for the family circle and particularly his mother.
“There are few worse crimes than causing the death of a young child.”
Judge Babington said Whoriskey should never have been left in charge of Kayden after he’d assaulted him the month before killing him “but of course he was able to convince Kayden’s mother he was not responsible”.