Jailed, parents whose 2-month-old girl died with 65 broken bones

THE parents of a baby who died after suffering 65 broken bones at their hands were jailed yesterday.

Naomi Johnson and Benjamin O’Shea were arrested following the sudden death of eight-week-old Amina-Faye – but tried to blame paramedics for the fractures.

A court heard the baby suffered injuries on at least seven occasions, including a ‘brutal’ attack when her thigh bone was shattered.

It was initially thought to be an ‘unexplained death’ but X-rays revealed that, although there were no clear visible injuries to her body, she had 41 fractures to her ribs and 24 limb fractures.

Johnson, 24, and O’Shea, 26, called paramedics when they noticed the baby had stopped breathing. But the couple then repeatedly lied about the circumstances leading to the death. As well as pointing the finger at paramedics, they also claimed the death was the result of a visit to a GP, blaming her inoculation.

Doctors concluded that the injuries were ‘highly indicative that Amina-Faye had suffered continued physical abuse’, police said. Some fractures were recent while others had started to heal, they added, while there was also evidence of bleeding inside Amina-Faye’s head.

But no exact cause of death was established – with police saying this meant murder charges could not be brought, Inner London Crown Court was told.

Edmund Vickers, defending, said former Army reservist O’Shea had also performed CPR in an attempt to save his daughter’s life on the fateful day in April 2019.

But Judge Nigel Peters said: ‘The consequences finally caught up with them and they panicked.’

He said the evidence showed that a ‘massive fracture’ to Amina-Faye’s thigh bone ‘could only have been caused by a brutal, vicious, attack’.

He added: ‘It is remarkable in this case that there were no signs externally of her fractures. The evidence from all the medics who examined the baby post-mortem was that they were all non-accidental.’

He said that the parents shared equal blame because it was inconceivable they would not have noticed the baby was suffering.

They were found guilty of causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm and cruelty to a child after a four-week trial. O’Shea, of

‘Catalogue of despicable abuse’

Southwark, south London, was jailed for eight years and eight months and Johnson, of Battersea, for seven years and two months.

The court was told the couple’s text messages revealed a ‘manipulative and abusive’ relationship, with O’Shea boasting of military service when in fact he had only been a reservist.

There were also messages describing how they had slapped a second child because he had soiled himself.

During the police investigation O’Shea was said to have written a letter to officers on ‘semi-official’ notepaper pretending to be the ‘Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’ suggesting that proceedings were ‘not in order’.

He was also alleged to have phoned officers pretending to be a neighbour in an attempt to shift blame on to Johnson.

The sentencing of the pair follows a series of other high-profile cases where the children of abusive parents have died.

Judge Peters said: ‘This is sadly yet another harrowing case of parents abusing and being cruel to their children. There were at least seven occasions when the injuries occurred.’

Detective Inspector Melanie Pressley, who led the police investigation, said O’Shea and Johnson had committed ‘monstrous crimes’ and their baby had suffered an ‘unimaginable number of injuries’.

She added: ‘The trauma she endured in her short life is impossible to comprehend.

‘Her injuries are a catalogue of the most despicable abuse.’