Dad Jailed For Nine Years After Shaking Baby Son To Death

A British dad has been jailed for nine years after he lost his temper and shook his 15-week-old baby son to death.

Matthew Jones, a 26-year-old father from the UK, has been sentenced to nine years behind bars after he shook his baby son Cody to death.

The court was told that Matthew was looking after Cody while his partner, Paula, was visiting her sister, but lost his patience when the baby wouldn’t settle.

Lost Control

Experts likened Cody’s injuries to that of a high-speed car accident, with the little boy suffering multiple fractured ribs and significant bleeds to the brain.

When Paula returned home, the little boy was “floppy” and unresponsive, with Matthew calling 999 for assistance.

“My baby is breathing but he’s lifeless. He is making noises but he is breathing really slow,” he told the operator.

Matthew told the court that he had no intention of killing his son, but admits that he did intend to cause him harm, with the judge rejecting his claim that Cody had fallen, resulting in the injuries.

“You allowed frustration, worsened by tiredness, to spill into a temper because that temper you previously described by you as a ‘white rage’ led to what you did,” Justice Picken said. “No sentence is ever likely to match the sense of responsibility you feel. You will have to bear that burden for the rest of your life.”

matthewjones

A Senseless Act

Attempting to defend his client, Matthew’s lawyer told the court that the young man had worked 65 hours in the days before the incident and was suffering from exhaustion.

“He is a young man who had been working extremely hard to provide for his son,” the defense said. “This is not a premeditated attack.”

The tragedy of this story is that no prison sentence, however long it may be, can ever bring baby Cody back. Our thoughts are with his mother and family.

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16 Comments

- - becstalou said
  - 07 Aug 2019
    10:26 am
So sad they need to teach people to walk away this happens far to often to these innocent little people.

- - rachelvk said
  - 22 Jul 2019
    12:29 pm
This is very tragic.

- - mom152736 said
  - 22 Jul 2019
    10:55 am
so sad to read that!

- - CaraW said
  - 22 Jul 2019
    8:23 am
This is so sad – life was just beginning for that baby.

- - mom101628 said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    11:31 pm
No matter how tired or frustrated you don’t harm your child and every one knows these days that sharing a child can cause horrific damage. Just should not happen.

- - mom129591 said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    10:35 pm
Awful. just awful!

- - mom160421 said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    7:49 pm
Nine years is not enough. Poor child and mother.

- - skbou said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    6:40 pm
That sweet little face. Poor little angel. I get his tiredness and frustration but not the need to harm. A lot of us have been there and we walk away…..or in my case sit down on the floor beside them and bawl along with them.

- - mom376182 said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    12:11 pm
So sad. I think more attention needs to be placed on postpartum depression in men. I can’t even imagine the pain the mother must have felt returning home to find your child like that.

- - Ellen said
  - 21 Jul 2019
    7:26 am
Very tragic, poor wee boy !
We all experience sometimes we’re over our limits and may be entering the Red Zone, in which case it’s so important to stop. We as parents are responsible for our more vulnerable kids and are responsible for our own health / well being first to be able to do so.

- - mom265671 said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    11:42 pm
So sad to hear this, never ok regardless of your excuse

- - mom90758 said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    8:02 pm
Terrible that he had to arrive to such an act. He should have known that the shaking wouldn’t have helped anyone. Lose your child in such a terrible way. Poor sweet child.

- - mom206279 said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    6:41 pm
What about all the parents who survive on a few hours of sleep a week for months on end and don’t shake their baby to death? If you feel like you are about to lose control just walk away. Leave the room. Letting them cry is a much better option than killing them out of frustration.

- - nadine_hill said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    5:13 pm
Tired and exhausted or not, this was a 15 week old defenses baby!! Plus, he admitted to attempting to harm him … RIP sweet angel, my thoughts are with his distraught mother ….

- - ashna9 said
  - 20 Jul 2019
    2:57 pm
I’m sure he;s a good father who made a terrible terrible mistake, but he has to face the consequences of his actions. Jail time and life without his child