A teenager who shook his girlfriend’s baby to death has been jailed for life.
Carl Alesbrook, who is now 19, was unanimously convicted of murder after breaking the ribs of four-month-old Elijah Shemwell and causing him “catastrophic” brain injuries when he was left alone with the infant as a 16-year-old in January 2022.
After a five-week trial in July, Alesbrook was also found guilty of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm. Elijah suffered bleeding on the brain, whiplash-type injuries and multiple bone fractures.
Alesbrook had met Elijah’s mother, India Shemwell, seven weeks before the fatal assault, when he was living in a care home and regularly smoking cannabis, a habit he began at the age of 12.
He denied harming Elijah and feeling “unduly angered or irritated” by him, despite sending a Snapchat message to Shemwell calling Elijah the C-word days before the baby died.
During the trial, the jury heard evidence that Alesbrook had sought pain relief for a toothache on the day of the murder, which Alesbrook denied. He also denied feeling “jealous” of the baby’s father, from whom Shemwell had separated but “remained emotionally and sexually involved” with, the jury was told.
Alesbrook was given a minimum prison sentence of 14 years, minus time already served, at Derby crown court.
Shemwell, who was 21 when Elijah died and is now 24, was sentenced to three years in prison by the same court. She admitted to two counts of child cruelty last December, including neglecting to call an ambulance more quickly after Elijah became unwell.
Evidence shown to the court revealed Shemwell had taken a video of Elijah, unresponsive with a floppy arm, on New Year’s Day in 2022. She sent the video to friends on Facebook to ask for advice. Another video showed her son “gasping for breath”, before she dialled 999 in the evening of 2 January.
The prosecutor, Vanessa Marshall KC, said Shemwell had “failed to prioritise the needs of Elijah over her own” and should have known Elijah was “testing Mr Alesbrook’s patience”.
In a Snapchat message to Shemwell days before Elijah was taken to hospital, Alesbrook said: “He is being a cunt, he keeps spitting it out. He doesn’t need changing either, I checked 10 minutes ago.”
DCI Greg McGill, who led the investigation into Elijah’s death, said: “While a child himself, even a teenager knows the fatal risks posed by shaking a four-month-old baby boy. The force used to squeeze his tiny body broke his ribs, while the shaking caused such significant damage that his brain became starved of oxygen leading to his death.
“While India was quite simply an appalling mother, she could never have foreseen the brutal actions of Alesbrook. However, it is quite clear that she could and should have taken far better care of Elijah and she will have to live with the consequences of both her action and inaction for the rest of her life.”
