Monster dad found guilty of murdering eight-week-old daughter and leaving her with 48 fractures
A man with a history of violence and who served time in prison for brutally attacking a young boy and leaving him with life-threatening injuries has been found guilty of attacking and killing his baby daughter.
Cherinea Denton had fallen asleep on the sofa at her home in Bedford on June 11 last year when Kevin Eves, 37, her boyfriend at the time, took their eight-week-old daughter Harper Denton and put her in a Moses basket, according to Birmingham Live.
When she woke up at 6 am the next morning, she found that Harper had turned "purple" and was cold to touch. She immediately rang 999 and complained that her baby was not breathing, with emergency medical services arriving at the residence and rushing the infant to a nearby hospital.
However, she was pronounced dead just 30-odd minutes later at 6:37 am, and a subsequent post-mortem examination found the young girl had suffered 34 rib fractures, 11 classic metaphyseal fractures or lesions, two fractured metatarsal bones, one in each foot, and a skull fracture.
She had also sustained bruising, mostly beneath the scalp and the skin of the face, had blood in both her eyes and had damage to her mouth. It was found that some of her injuries were not recent either, with them starting from the time she was three weeks old.
During his trial at the Old Bailey, Eves denied his charges of murder and grievous bodily harm with intent and claimed the child broke her bones when he attempted to resuscitate her.
But the jurors heard how this was not the first time that Eves had laid his hands on a child, and that in 2006 when he went by the name Forbes, he was jailed for nine years after he was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and wilfully assaulting a child.
In that case, the victim, a young boy, had suffered "life-threatening" head injuries and fractures to the elbow, with Eves claiming he was injured after he fell on the floor from a washing machine while in his care.
However, the injuries were found to be consistent with the child being "swung forcefully by the arms such that his head impacted against a surface such as a floor or a wall."
Prosecutor Sally Howes QC pointed out the similarities between both cases and said it "demonstrates a clear and definite propensity to commit life-threatening and fatal assaults upon very young children when left in his sole charge."
She said Harper's injuries "tell the tale of a totally dependent, vulnerable, helpless baby girl who was subjected to a catalog of escalating violence which only came to an end with her untimely death."
Eves was found guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, November 6.