Man who violently shook baby jailed for attempted murder

A man who violently shook a baby girl, leaving her with permanent brain damage, has been jailed for 11 years for attempted murder.

Josh Coates had been left alone with the four-month-old child overnight in Arbroath in 2023, against the orders of professionals due his anger management problems.

The 25-year-old was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Dundee in March.

Jurors heard the child had also been left with partial blindness and cerebral palsy in all limbs but was making "remarkable" progress.

The trial was told Coates had messaged the girl's mother at about 06:00 demanding that she come home.

Coates then texted: "She is being weird. She is not waking up."

The woman returned, but neither she nor Coates sought immediate medical help, which was described by prosecutors as "indefensible".

An ambulance was finally called four 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.

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

Coates claimed the baby had fallen out of a Moses basket then changed his story to her slipping off a sofa.

Coates told police: "I did not shake her like rags. I am not like that."

In court, Coates accepted he had told officers "a pack of lies".

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."

Judge 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."

The judge said that measures had been agreed that Coates should not be left alone with the child.

He said: "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."