A 58-year-old man who admitted vigorously shaking his infant grandson who subsequently died in hospital of head and neck trauma four years ago has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.
Chang Teng Wang of Melville Rise, Finglas, Dublin 11, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of ten-month-old Sean Wang at the apartment on 15 August 2019.
He claimed he had been trying to comfort and calm the baby while minding him and said the baby could have fallen off the bed even though he didn't see that happen.
Gardaí were called in after doctors and consultant paediatricians became concerned about the extent of the baby’s injuries when he was brought to hospital on 13 August 2019.
The court was also told that baby Sean's parents rang the gardaí and claimed some of the injuries could have been caused by them driving fast while rushing the infant to the hospital but this was discounted by subsequent tests.
Chang Teng Wang arrived in Ireland in 2019 entirely dependent on his son and son’s partner.
His defence counsel described him as an uneducated, simple man, from a very poor background in China who had no experience of childminding.
He told the garda the baby was difficult to mind and he would prefer to be working
"It was extremely hard for me," he said, "I sometimes wanted to cry with the baby."
He had been minding his grandson for long periods, up to 15 hours a day for 15 days and admitted vigorously shaking the infant and throwing it up in the air to calm and comfort it.
The infant's parents brought to baby to Temple Street hospital on 13 August 2019 where he was pronounced dead 66 hours later.
A number of specialists, doctors and consultant paediatricians expressed concerns about the extent of the baby’s injuries and the fact that the injuries did not concur with what they were being told.
The baby had suffered irreversible brain injury, and gardaí were called in and commenced a criminal investigation.
Sergeant Siobhan Tolan said that a number of different accounts had been given for baby Sean’s injuries, including that he had hit his head off a door, had fallen on to the floor and sometimes landed on his head on a mattress while being thrown in the air.
The court was also told that baby Sean’s parents contacted gardaí and said the infant was in their arms while they were driving him to hospital and the journey was so rapid there may have been occasions where he hit his head off the roof.
Gardai carried out a test whereby they reconstructed the journey and drove in "a furious fashion" to the hospital so see if this had caused the death of the child but at no stage was it noted that acceleration could have caused the child’s injuries
Judge Martina Baxter said today that both Chang Teng Wang and his daughter in law, the child’s mother, used the word accident throughout and she could not ignore that because it was not an accident.
The gravity of the offence she said, must be reflected by a severe sentence.
The case involves the loss of the life of a very healthy baby boy with his whole life ahead of him, who at ten-months-old was an example of the most vulnerable groups of human beings in our society who require us to protect them and shield them from harm.
Sean was harmed and that harm has caused the most final and devastating of injuries with the consequence that he lost his life, she said.
"We have heard little of his short life. There is no victim impact statement. In her letter his mother has described the accused as being remorseful and she consumed by grief and sorrow," the judge said.
However she noted the use of the expression "accident" which was also used by the accused in interview with the probation and said it was still clear there was a difficulty in accepting there was an assault on the body of Sean which had fatal consequences.
She also said the number of explanations provided to the medical experts as to how this previously healthy ten-month-old child could have been injured to such an extent that the consequent injuries were catastrophic, – caused an inordinate waste of time for the treating physicians and the gardaí.
"While its clear all of these were fully investigated, no stone was left unturned," she said.
In mitigation she said that Chang Teng Wang has pleaded guilty which is an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and acceptance of being criminally liable. She said that he didn’t seek to blame anyone else. He co-operated with the investigation and answered questions.
She said he was 53 at the time and not elderly or incapable as suggested earlier and has since lost out on family opportunities. She said he feels ashamed and will face social isolation once incarcerated.
Judge Martina Baxter sentenced him to six-and-a-half years in prison with the final year suspended.
