Causing her to spend several days fighting for her life
A man who punched a four-year-old girl, causing her to spend several days fighting for her life in intensive care, has been jailed.
Craig Carth, 27, of Trinity Road was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm at the end of a three-week trial at Kingston Crown Court. He was sentenced on Friday 28th November to 13 years imprisonment.
In the early hours of 26th March 2013, the girl was rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting after her mother called 999 reporting that the child had been unwell and vomiting.
During surgery, she was found to have two holes in the front wall of the intestine. It was established that trauma to the upper abdomen, sustained in the 48 hours prior to admission to hospital, was the likely cause. Following surgery, the child remained in intensive care for several days.
Two men and two women were arrested in connection with the investigation and bailed to return pending further enquiries. All denied any knowledge of how the child could have been injured.
On 25th February 2014, Craig Carth was charged with causing grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced as above having been found guilty on 24th October.
Detective Sergeant Tariq Farooqi, of Wandsworth Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: "This is a substantial sentence and I am pleased that Carth will now be in prison for a significant amount of time. I'm glad that the weight of evidence helped the jury come to a unanimous finding of guilt against Carth.
"Had it not been for the excellence of the consultant paediatric surgeon and staff at St George's Hospital, this young girl may well have died. Thankfully she has made a full recovery.
"Officers from the Child Abuse Investigation Team conducted a thorough investigation, dealing with a very young, vulnerable child. We will continue to investigate every allegation of child abuse professionally in order to bring this type of dangerous offender to justice."
Three other defendants were found not guilty of causing or allowing the serious harm of a young child.
November 30, 2014
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