Battersea mother found guilty after baby daughter dies with more than 60 fractured bones

The parents of an eight-week-old who died with dozens of broken bones will be sentenced later this month for child abuse offences.

Naomi Johnson, of Octavia Street, and Benjamin O'Shea were found guilty of child abuse last Tuesday (November 30) after post-mortem examinations revealed their infant daughter Amina sustained an "unimaginable number of injuries".

Inner London Crown Court was told that in her eight weeks of life Amina suffered a brain haemorrhage, coughed blood and on at least nine occasions sustained fractures, including 41 rib fractures and 24 broken limb bones.

Doctors found her catalogue of injuries were indicative of continued physical abuse and such a "constellation of fractures" could not have been caused accidentally.

Following a four-week trial, 23-year-old Johnson and O'Shea, 26, were found guilty of causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm.

Both were also convicted of child cruelty in relation to a second child, who both admitted to slapping and treating poorly.

The abuse inflicted by the couple came to light after Amina stopped breathing on April 26, 2019. Paramedics were phoned and arrived within minutes but could not resuscitate the eight-week-old.

No evidence of injury to Amina was visible until multiple fractures on her body discovered in post mortem skeletal X-rays implied the baby suffered manifold abuse over the course of her short life.

A special post-mortem examination carried out subsequently could establish no cause of death but a police investigation into the level of injury Amina sustained was launched on 3 May 2019, and Johnson and O'Shea were immediately arrested.

Detectives from the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command who led the investigation consulted with a number of medical experts and on September 11, 2019, O'Shea and Johnson were re-arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

O'Shea initially told paramedics he had taken Amina to the GP for a routine visit the day before she died and that she had seemed fine upon returning home. The following morning, the day of her death, O'Shea said she seemed grumpy when she woke at 7:30am and that to settle Amina to sleep, Johnson gave her some paracetamol.

He claimed that once Amina had settled, he put her back to bed, and when he checked on her around 20 minutes later and she was unresponsive, he woke Johnson and phoned 999.

Later in hospital, O'Shea told doctors that they had given Amina paracetamol before she went to bed and she had woken twice in the night, Johnson feeding her on both occasions.

Doctors heard that when Johnson woke at 7:30am to Amina crying, the baby was given more paracetamol, fed and again put to bed. O'Shea said when he checked on her around 20 minutes later, she seemed fine.

He said when he returned to check on Amina later she did not look right and her arms seemed floppy. He put his ear to her chest and upon hearing a faint heart beat and no breathing, he ran to Johnson to phone 999 and commenced CPR.

Johnson and O'Shea claimed during police interviews that Amina's death was the result of the earlier visit to the GP and that paramedics caused her fractures.

In later police interviews, both denied injuring the child.

"This is a truly heart-breaking case that has touched all of us who have worked on bringing Johnson and O'Shea before the court for their monstrous crimes," said Detective Inspector Melanie Pressley, who led the investigation.

"The cruelty and callousness with which the pair discussed the treatment of the other child in this case is shocking. Children depend on adults and the children in this case were sorely betrayed by Johnson and O'Shea in the most tragic of ways.

"In eight weeks of life Amina suffered an unimaginable number of injuries. The trauma she endured in her short life is impossible to comprehend, her injuries are a catalogue of the most despicable abuse.

"Equally incomprehensible is how an adult can inflict such cruelty on defenceless, innocent children.

"Throughout our investigation we have been unable to establish how the baby died and Johnson and O'Shea have been steadfast in their refusal to answer our questions. They have sought to protect themselves in a way they clearly did not for the two children in this case."

Detective Constable Caroline Baker, part of the investigation team, said: "It is difficult to speak of justice in a case like this, however I hope that today's verdict is a clear message that these children mattered and the abuse they suffered will be punished."

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