Man who shook baby girl leaving her with 'car crash-like' brain injury jailed

A man convicted of attempting to murder a newborn baby by violently shaking her has been jailed for 11 years.

Josh Coates left the tiny four-month-old girl with a devastating car crash-like brain injury.

The 25-year-old already had self-confessed anger issues when he lost control while supposedly caring for the child at a house in Arbroath, Angus in August 2023.

Coates was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, having been convicted of the attack in March.

Lord Young told Coates that his actions were a “significant breach of trust.”

The judge said: “Your evidence was so inconsistent and confusing that your own defence counsel had to accept in his speech to the jury that your actions caused injury to the baby.

“In your background report you gave another version of events and suggested another person caused the injuries when out of the house.

“This new version was inconsistent with what you said at trial and the text messages sent that morning.

“Your defence counsel Mr Keegan said you now do accept responsibility for these injuries inflicted on the child.

“Your background is of some relevance – you were bullied at school, experienced domestic abuse within the family unit, you have ADHD and anger management issues.

“Because of this, measures were agreed that you would not be left alone with the baby but tragically another person put their own interests in front of the baby’s and left her alone in your sole care.

“You should not have been left alone with the baby but it is absolutely no excuse for what you did.”

Jurors at the trial in Dundee heard how Coates was alone with the baby overnight, flouting the orders of professionals due to his anger management problems.

He initially messaged the girl’s mother on Facebook at 6.07am on August 4, 2023 demanding she come home.

Coates then got in contact with a man she was with, stating: “She is being weird. She is not waking up.

“She is still breathing, but I do not know what the f*** is wrong with her. It is scary.”

The mum returned home, but neither Coats nor the woman immediately saught medical help, described by prosecutors as “indefensible”.

An ambulance was finally called for hours later when the baby’s grandmother turned up.

The baby had bleeding on the brain and multiple bruises.

She was also said to have “healing” fractures in both arms thought to have been caused a week earlier by Coates twisting her wrists.

Jurors heard the child has been left with permanent brain damage, partial blindness and cerebral palsy in all limbs but is making “remarkable” progress.

Medics giving evidence at the trial concluded the girl had suffered “abusive head trauma”.

Coates told a string of lies to cover up what he had done.

He claimed the baby had fallen out of a Moses basket then changed it to her slipping off a sofa.

Coates alleged to police: “I did not shake her like rags. I am not like that.”

In court, Coates – who claimed to have short term memory loss and the brain of a seven-year-old – accepted he had told officers “a pack of lies”.

He further insisted he had been “petrified” of the child’s mum.

The attempted murder charge stated Coates had caused injuries and repeatedly shook the baby or otherwise inflict trauma to her head.

Jim Keegan KC, defending, said: “He does accept responsibility as he has had time to think about matters.

“It is a great pity that he did not accept responsibility at an earlier stage and things might have been different.

“The fact is he was left alone with the child and he ought not to have been.

“While he was in charge, he inflicted the injuries on more than one occasion which he at least now accepts.”