NSPCC Scotland issue's plea to public to be alert to child maltreatment after sentencing of Grantown man over death of his baby daughter in Inverness; Thomas Haining was jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh this week
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A CHILD protection charity has urged strath residents to contact the authorities if they ever have any concern for the safety of a youngster.
The NSPCC made the plea after Grantown native Thomas Haining (22) was jailed for eight-years after shaking his three-week old daughter to death back in 2017.
He was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh this week for the crime, which occurred at his home in Inverness.
Reacting to the sentencing, an NSPCC Scotland spokesperson said: “Babies are completely reliant on the adults who care for them – so it is truly shocking that a father could inflict these horrific injuries on his defenceless daughter, with devastating consequences.
“We would urge anyone worried about a child’s safety to speak out. They can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 for advice or to report concerns.”
Sentencing him on Tuesday to eight years a judge told Thomas Haining no term he could impose would repair the damage he had done. Haining, then aged 19, shook daughter Mikayla, resulting in her head striking a door at the family home.
He later woke up the child’s mother Shannon Davies, shouting that the baby had stopped breathing and urging her to call an ambulance while he made resuscitation efforts.
But a subsequent examination of his mobile phone revealed he carried out a series of internet searches beginning almost an hour before he alerted her to the baby’s plight.
The first Google search used the term: “baby took a panic attack and now she’s unresponsive”.
It was followed minutes later by “what happens when a newborn is shaked hard”, with a final search for “newborn in a coma”.
Despite this Haining told paramedics that his daughter had been unwell for two or three days, was crying as if in pain when fed and that her breathing went “funny” then stopped. Mikayla was found to have suffered a skull fracture and seven broken ribs. The cause of death was given as head trauma.
Medical experts concluded that she suffered brain injuries which were “catastrophic and unsurvivable”, the court heard.
