A murder trial has heard that after shaking his newborn infant daughter to death, the father left her “like a rag doll” with “catastrophic” brain and spinal damage.
Felicity-May Harvey, who was two weeks old, was allegedly murdered by Darin Harvey, 25, at their Heywood, Greater Manchester, home in January of last year.
A jury heard that Felicity-father May’s “deliberately shook” her, resulting in “catastrophic” damage.
When Heather Connolly, Harvey’s girlfriend and Felicity-mother, May’s left the house, the prosecution claims that Harvey murdered his 20-day-old daughter.
Felicity-May was born with a cleft palate, which hampered her ability to eat and needed a “additional degree of care,” according to prosecutor Tim Storrie KC at Bolton Crown Court.
Jurors were informed that Ms. Connolly left the Heywood residence on January 8, 2021, soon after 2 p.m.
She checked on her daughter, who was sleeping in a Moses basket, before leaving and had “no worries for her care,” the court was informed.
It is also said that she sent Harvey a message to remind him to feed Felicity-May.
Heather Connolly was only gone from the house for a quarter of an hour, according to Mr. Storrie. Her whole universe had transformed by the time that quarter of an hour had passed.
According to the prosecution, Harvey allegedly “physically manhandled” their daughter by shaking her to death while Ms. Connolly was away.
Harvey called Ms. Connolly while she was driving back home to express worry about Felicity-May.
According to the prosecution, when she hurried upstairs, she saw Felicity-May “limp, blue, and trying to breathe.”
Felicity-May was transferred to the hospital after Ms. Connolly called 999.
She seemed to be confused about what had happened, Mr. Storrie told the jurors. She worried for a while that her daughter’s cleft palate had enabled her to breathe in part of her food, which had caused her to cease breathing.
However, according to Mr. Storrie, the baby’s testing indicated “a catastrophic constellation of damage” to the baby’s brain in addition to a serious spinal cord injury.
According to the testimony given in court, there was also proof of “quite extensive bleeding in the eyes,” which was consistent of “severe, abusive head trauma, such as happens with shaking or shaking with impact.”
The injuries were brought on by Felicity-May being “deliberately shook, or physically manhandled in a manner which no one would do except to wish to give her evident injury,” according to the prosecution.
The repercussions of handling her in this manner, Mr. Storrie added, “would have been instantly clear to anybody there.”
The fact that Felicity had been gravely ill would have been clear in a hurry. She would have shrunk to the size of a rag doll.
That evening, Mr. Harvey of Birch Road, Wardle, Rochdale, was taken into custody; three days after Felicity-death, May’s he was taken into custody once again.
When questioned by authorities, Mr. Harvey said that when he went to feed his daughter, she had been “well, responsive, and cheerful,” and that he had no culpability for her injuries.
According to Mr. Storrie, he said that Felicity “stuck out her tongue” before she “got drowsy” and that he then placed her on the bed.
The KC summarized the prosecution’s evidence, saying: “There can be no other explanation for a man shaking a small kid, hence we argue that the trauma done to Felicity was indicative of a purpose to do her genuinely significant injury.”
We provide the evidence that Darin Harvey is guilty of murder because of this.
In a police interview that was shown to the jury, Ms. Connolly said that Mr. Harvey had called her just before she had left for home and had said, “There’s something wrong with baby.”
She said that when she rushed upstairs, she saw Mr. Harvey holding his daughter and asking, “What’s wrong, baby?” What’s going on? Ms. Connolly said that at first she believed Felicity-May was choking.
She claimed, “I wasn’t sure whether she had choked or if he had begun feeding her.” “I put her down on the bed.”
Darin continued requesting to know what was wrong with her. I had recently returned, so I was ignorant.
I rushed about like a headless chicken, she continued. Minutes felt like hours, and seconds looked like minutes.
The officer was informed by Ms. Connolly that she could hear her daughter “gasping.”
It was terrible, she continued. She was having trouble. Even so, she wasn’t sobbing. She was just making these horrible sounds.
Ms. Connolly said that Mr. Harvey attempted to administer CPR on Felicity-May as she dialed 999. She informed the police that when she asked him what had happened to their daughter, he said, “I don’t know.”
She stated, “He claimed he pulled her up out of the Moses basket to feed her.” ‘ She gave him a quick glance, a little grin, and then her eyes rolled back when he commented on how her weight had doubled.
He claimed to be aware of a problem.
Mr. Harvey disputes that his daughter was killed.
The trial goes on.