Murder Attempt Antidepressants 28/10/2010 England Mother Beats her 7 Month Old: Permanent Brain Damage & Blindness
Murder Attempt Antidepressants 2010-10-28 England Mother Beats her 7 Month Old: Permanent Brain Damage & Blindness
Summary:

Paragraph 11 reads:  ""The following day she overdosed on anti-depressants."

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/NURSE-JAILED-SHAKING-BABY-SON/article-2810667-detail/article.html


Former nursery nurse jailed for shaking baby son



By emma king emma.king@thesentinel.co.uk

A FORMER nursery nurse has been jailed after admitting shaking her seven-month-old son, leaving him blind and severely brain-damaged.

Jack Weaver, who is now two-and-a-half years old, spent almost five months in hospital after suffering severe head injuries when his mother had "a momentary loss of control."

Andrea Weaver is today starting a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Yesterday, Chester Crown Court heard that the 38-year-old shook Jack, who has a twin sister Imogen and six-year-old sister Megan, so hard he turned pale, became limp and lifeless and made a "growling" noise.

The mother-of-three, from Barony Road, Nantwich, called 999 at about 10.20am on January 16, 2009 when she noticed the tot was struggling to breathe and when paramedics arrived told them she had no idea what caused the injuries.

Jack was transferred from Crewe's Leighton Hospital to Alder Hey in Liverpool where he underwent an operation on his skull.

Owen Edwards, prosecuting, said: "Medics who examined Jack said his injuries were obviously non-accidental and as a result of trauma.

"Weaver consistently denied acting in any way that would have caused injury and the family even started researching alternative causes of brain damage."

The court heard that in March last year Weaver confessed to her husband Nick that she shook Jack once and dropped him on the bedroom carpet.

Mr Edwards added: "She cried and said 'my head's gone'. She said she wouldn't let her husband go to prison for something she did.

"The following day she overdosed on anti-depressants."

In a statement read to the court, Jack's father Nick, who runs a family business, said that his world had fallen apart.

He revealed there had been early indications that Jack might not survive his injuries and he now requires around-the-clock care.

Mr Weaver said the whole family's lives have changed dramatically.

Weaver was charged in March last year with inflicting GBH and pleaded guilty to the offence in June.

All three children now live with their father. Weaver has supervised access once a month with her two daughters and once every two months with Jack.

Virginia Hayton, defending, told the court her client was still in denial.

She said: "Her guilt will never go away. It will just get worse. It is inevitable that as the children get older they will ask questions and she fears their reaction every day.

"She has lost everything as a result of her actions. She knows it is her own fault and she will have to live with what she's done for the rest of her life.

"She is a shadow of the woman she used to be."

The Recorder of Chester, Judge Elgan Edwards, told Weaver: "This is a tragedy for you, for Jack and for the whole family.

"Your deviousness in the way you lied reflects little credit upon you.

"It was a momentary loss of control but you have ruined your son's life. His injuries were truly horrific.

"The sentence you have been given is nothing compared to the sentence Jack has got as a result of what you did."