Jealous teen who shook premature baby to death & branded him a ‘c***’ as cruel mum turned a blind eye to abuse is jailed
A JEALOUS teen who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s premature baby son as she turned a blind eye to his horror abuse has been jailed.
Carl Alesbrook shook four-month-old Elijah Shemwell on at least three separate occasions just weeks after meeting his mum India.
The baby, who had been born premature, suffered whiplash-type injuries at the monster’s hands – including rib and limb fractures and brain damage.
Alesbrook, 19, has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 14 years after being convicted of murder.
Mum Shemwell, 23, was sentenced to three years after admitting two counts of child cruelty.
This included the fact she did not dial emergency services more quickly after Elijah became unwell.
Alesbrook, who was 16 at the time, had been “consumed by jealousy” over Shemwell’s relationship with the baby’s dad as the pair remained “sexually involved”.
On one occasion, he sent chilling Snapchat messages to Shemwell while looking after Elijah alone.
He wrote: “He is being a c***, he keeps spitting it out. He doesn’t need changing either, I checked 10 minutes ago.”
Days later on January 2, 2022, Shemwell phoned 999 to report she had returned home to find her son “pale and limp”.
After Elijah had been taken to hospital, Alesbrook, who was “high” on cannabis at the time, texted his mum saying he was “absolutely f****d”.
A post mortem revealed the baby had been shaken on at least two previous occasions, which caused brain damage and rib and limb fractures.
The fatal attack caused Elijah to suffer catastrophic head injuries after he was violently shaken.
A pathologist found the baby had also either been hit in the face or stuck “against a surface”.
Prosecutor Vanessa Marshall KC said Shemwell was a “thoroughly inadequate mother to Elijah” but had not caused his death.
The mum would leave Elijah “unattended and isolated” in another room for large periods of time while she smoked cannabis.
Ms Marshall added: “But where her neglect was the most manifest and ultimately led to Elijah’s death was that on too many occasions, she left her four-month old baby, in the sole care of this defendant, who on any view, as a 16-year-old lad, with little, if any, experience of looking after babies, should not have been given such a responsibility.”
DCI Greg McGill, who led the investigation into the 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.”