Jail For Man Who Punched Crying Baby In The Face

A man who punched a crying six-week-old baby in the face has been jailed for nine months. Darren Ashmore, 25, was told by the judge that only a prison sentence was appropriate for the offence.

Ashmore had earlier admitted assaulting the baby boy to his severe injury at a flat in Edinburgh on 5 April last year. An allegation that he inflicted permanent impairment to the child in the attack was deleted.

Doctors had feared brain damage to the baby as a result of internal bleeding caused by the blow to the left side of the head. However, advocate-depute Peter Hammond said it was hoped that the little boy would make a full recovery.

Lord Bracadale told Ashmore at the High Court in Edinburgh: “On any view it was a terrible thing to do. It seems to me such a serious matter that a sentence of imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence.”

Ashmore was looking after the baby, who was lying on a bed crying and refusing to settle down. The child’s mother, who for legal reasons cannot be identified, found her son screaming.

Ashmore did not tell her what he had done. She noticed the baby’s cheeks and eyes starting to swell, but thought at first that it was a result of the child’s crying.

The infant was taken to a doctor’s surgery, and the GP advised going to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. There, medical staff were suspicious and police were contacted. At first Ashmore tried to say that the baby had banged his head when lying on a table, but then admitted what he had done.

Mr Hammond said he made a fist with his right hand and showed police how he delivered a single punch. He said he could not explain his behaviour and needed help. He added: “I am really sorry for what I have done. I know it is too late now. I cannot take it back.”

Defence counsel David Nicolson told the court: “He could not cope. He did not know how to stop a new baby crying. He instantly realised the magnitude of what he had done, but simply could not admit to it at first.”

Mr Nicolson said that Ashmore had acted in “a despicable way”, but he was not a man disposed to violence. He told the court Ashmore, of Dudley in the West Midlands, appeared to be “slightly aimless, slightly rootless”. He added: “The one fortunate aspect is that there do not appear to be long-term consequences for the child.”

Lord Bracadale told Ashmore that there were matters which meant he could restrict the length of the jail sentence, including the expectation that there would be no long-term effect. The judge said he also took into account his lack of previous convictions for violence.

He said he would have jailed Ashmore for a year for the offence, but would reduce the sentence because of his guilty plea.