A teenager has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s baby son by shaking him and causing ‘catastrophic injuries’. Carl Alesbrook, now 19, was aged just 16 when he murdered four-month-old Elijah Shemwell, seven weeks after meeting the baby’s mother, India.
Baby Elijah suffered multiple bone fractures, bleeding on the brain, and whiplash-type injuries after Alesbrook shook him on at least three separate occasions. Alesbrook, of Upper Greenhill Gardens, Matlock, denied causing any harm to Elijah but was unanimously convicted of both murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Derby Crown Court heard that baby Elijah had been shaken at least three times, including on New Year’s Day and January 2, 2022, and he had 17 bruises around his chest, back, and stomach consistent with grip marks. He suffered brain damage, and his head injuries were described as ‘catastrophic’.
Days before Elijah was rushed to hospital on January 2, Alesbrook sent a Snapchat message to Shemwell calling her baby a ‘c***’ – but he denied being ‘unduly angered or irritated’ by the child. Alesbrook told the court that he looked after Elijah alone while Shemwell was working away from her home in Acorn Drive, Belper, Derbyshire.
Shemwell, who was aged 21 at the time but is now 23, has admitted to two counts of child cruelty, including the fact that she did not dial emergency services more quickly after Elijah became unwell. ‘The prosecution is confident that a careful review of the evidence in this case puts this defendant alone with Elijah moments before the critical incidents… so as to make it inexplicable on the basis of coincidence that it was not this defendant who was responsible for causing Elijah’s injuries and death.’
This is a developing news story, more to follow.