A Cork man was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court yesterday after he was found guilty of murdering his six-month-old baby daughter. The jury of nine men and three women returned with their unanimous verdict after deliberating for a total of five hours and 23 minutes on Tuesday and yesterday.
Mr Justice Flood said: "The statute does not allow any discretion to the trial judge and I sentence the accused to imprisonment for life."
Fergus Whitty (31) had denied murdering his daughter, Vanessa Kelly, in his home at Mount Vernon Crescent, South Douglas Road, Cork, on September 15th 1996.
However, he had admitted assaulting the infant and that as a result she had sustained severe injuries which resulted in her death. The court also heard he had been drinking heavily that day.
The jury was sent to a hotel on Tuesday night after almost four hours of deliberations. They resumed at 10.30 a.m. yesterday and returned at 12.15 p.m. when Mr Justice Flood gave them further directions relating to the issue of intent and intoxication. They returned with a unanimous verdict at 12.35 p.m.
Whitty remained impassive, staring at the ground, when the guilty verdict and life sentence were passed.
During the seven-day trial the jury heard that on the day of the assault Whitty spent a considerable period of time drinking in two pubs in Cork city before returning home.
He went to bed but was awakened at around 9 p.m. and sent the babysitter home. Vanessa awoke and he tried to feed her, but she would not stop crying.
Following his arrest three days after the baby's death, Whitty made a statement to gardai admitting he punched the baby three times after he "snapped" because she would not stop crying.
He said he squeezed Vanessa's stomach with both hands and then hit her with his fist in the face and stomach. He held the infant in his left arm and hit her with his closed right fist in the nose, a blow he described as an upper-cut.
In evidence to the jury Whitty insisted he could not remember anything about the assault.
The court was also told that doctors who struggled to save Vanessa's life gave her more than 12 times her normal blood volume.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said Vanessa died as a result of one or more severe abdominal injuries, which led to a massive rupture of her liver and a lesser rupture of her kidney.