Don’t know how he does it.”Ĭhief inspector Richard Pegler, of Gloucestershire police, described Ah’Kiell as “a beautiful baby boy”.

However, she had sent a WhatsApp message to her mother, saying: “He’s so horrible to Ah’Kiell. She said he had broken her jaw before she was pregnant with Ah’Kiell, but denied that he was violent towards the baby. She admitted that Walker “frightened” her. When asked what she would have done if she had believed that Ah’Kiell had been injured by Walker, she replied: “I would have phoned the police.” Henry said her son had been happy and she had not noticed him being in pain before his collapse. Walker was also asked in court about scratches to his son and it was put to him that he had sexually abused the child, but he denied this. He alleged that one of the paramedics had caused the brain injury. He said he told Henry to splash water on to his face. Walker claimed that on the morning he collapsed in July 2016, the baby looked pale. “I loved him to bits,” he told the court. In the witness box, Walker denied hurting his son and said he would have protected him if he was threatened. Next day, he was declared brain dead and the decision was made to remove his breathing tube. His lungs were full of water and a paramedic tipped him up to clear the liquid. He was taking just four breaths per minute. Her partner could also be heard speaking in the background.Ī short time later, paramedics arrived to find Ah’Kiell seriously ill. In a 999 call played in court, Henry sobbed as she described how her son was coughing up blood and barely breathing.

Walker and Henry denied manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty.īut the jury was told that in the weeks before his son’s death, Walker Googled: “Can I squeeze my baby?” and “Can babies feel pain?” A postmortem found he had previously suffered fractures to his ribs and a shoulder.

When paramedics arrived at the family home in Gloucester, Ah’Kiell was naked, soaking wet and so cold that his temperature could not be measured.Ī CT scan showed bleeding in his eyes consistent with shaking. Henry was cleared of manslaughter after a five-week trial at Bristol crown court but both were convicted of cruelty to a child under 16.

Off-Ice Behavior by Hannah Henry