Baby death trial jury fail to reach a verdict
JURORS have been discharged in the trial of a dad accused of murdering his twoweek-old baby daughter after they failed to reach a verdict.
Darin Harvey, 25, of Birch Road, Wardle, is charged with the murder of his baby daughter Felicity-may Harvey at their home in Heywood in January 2021.
Mr Harvey denied the offence. The 12 members of the jury were deliberating verdicts for 17 hours and 34 minutes of deliberations, but were unable to reach a verdict upon which they were all agreed.
Prosecutors are now expected to confirm if they will be seeking a retrial. A mention hearing for the case is set for November 14.
During the trial at Bolton Crown Court, prosecutors alleged that Felicity-may suffered “catastrophic” injuries after being “deliberately shaken” by her father, moments after his partner and Felicity-may’s mum, Heather Connolly, had left the family home.
Prosecutor Tim Storrie KC, told the court that Felicity-may had been born with a cleft palate which affected her ability to feed and meant she required an “extra degree of care”.
Shortly after 2pm on January 8, 2021, Ms Connolly left the family’s home in Stirling Place, Heywood. Prior to heading out, she checked on her daughter, who was asleep in a Moses basket, and had “no concerns for her welfare”, the court heard.
She also reminded Mr Harvey that Felicity-may needed feeding, it was said.
Prosecutors alleged that while Ms Connolly was out, Mr Harvey “physically
manhandled” their daughter by shaking her to death. As Ms Connolly was returning home about 15 minutes later, she received a phone call from Mr Harvey expressing concern for Felicity-may, the court heard.
She rushed upstairs and found Felicity-may “limp, blue and struggling to breathe”, prosecutors alleged. Ms Connolly dialled 999 and Felicitymay
was taken to hospital. She sadly died three days later, it was said.
Tests carried out by doctors revealed “a catastrophic constellation of injuries” to the baby’s brain, as well as severe spinal cord injury.
There was also evidence of “very substantial bleeding in the eyes”, which was typical of “severe, abusive head trauma, such as occurs with shaking or shaking with impact”, the court heard.
Prosecutors say the injuries were caused by Felicity-may having been “deliberately shaken, or physically manhandled in a way which no one would do unless they wanted to cause her obvious harm”.
Giving evidence from the witness box, Mr Harvey denied the offence and stated: “I did not kill my daughter”.