HALIFAX — A Nova Scotia father whose assault on his infant son left the boy's skull "like a crushed egg" has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.
"Your actions were reprehensible and involved irreparably harming your infant son. Only a few weeks old, (he) was a completely defenceless, helpless infant child," said Justice James Chipman of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court during sentencing.
The judge said the boy was three weeks old when his father "snapped" in 2011 because of the stress of the new baby and tension with his father-in-law.
Today, the boy is nearly five, cannot walk and has "significant mental and physical challenges."
At the time, he lived with his parents in a small unit attached to his maternal grandparents' mobile home in southwestern Nova Scotia.
One doctor told the family the MRI showed the boy's skull was "like a crushed egg."
He was hospitalized with seizures and reduced consciousness, and one doctor said his injuries included "bilateral and complex skull fractures, extensive bleeding in multiple layers of the brain, brain damage due to hypoxic ischemic injury, and hemorrhages within the retina of the eyes."
The father was convicted in July of aggravated assault, failing to provide the necessities of life, and criminal negligence. He said he was "very sorry" for what happened.
The boy's mother described the accused as an unemotional loner but not otherwise violent.
Chipman said the father had no other "appreciable" criminal record before or since, but noted he has made no attempts to get counselling or seek rehabilitation.
"Given (the boy's) compromised condition, his young mother will have to provide enhanced care indefinitely to her son," noted the judge. "As his mother said in her victim impact statement, (his) quality of life has been stolen from him."
The written record of the judge's Sept. 9 sentencing decision was released Wednesday. Chipman banned the man from owning firearms and several other weapons for life, and suggested that mental health counselling be made available to him while in jail.
