A 19-year-old has been found guilty of murdering a four-month-old baby by shaking him to death when he was 16.
Carl Alesbrook was convicted of the murder of Elijah Shemwell, his partner’s son, in January 2022. The jury at Derby Crown Court also found Alesbrook guilty of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm, which resulted in bleeding on the brain, whiplash-type injuries, and multiple bone fractures.
The court heard that Elijah was shaken on three separate occasions. He died at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham on January 5, 2022, after suffering cardiac arrest.
Alesbrook had met Elijah’s mother, India Shemwell, seven weeks before the baby’s death. Shemwell, who was 21 at the time, began a relationship with Alesbrook. She admitted to two counts of child cruelty, including failing to call emergency services promptly when Elijah became unwell.
Prosecutor Vanessa Marshall KC stated that Alesbrook killed Elijah while he was alone with the baby at Shemwell’s home in Belper, Derbyshire. The jury was informed that Shemwell, now 23, had separated from Elijah’s father but remained emotionally and sexually involved with him.
Alesbrook denied being in love with Shemwell or being jealous of her continued relationship with Elijah’s father. He described his relationship with Shemwell as a friendship with a sexual aspect. However, a message from Alesbrook to Shemwell revealed his distress over her continued involvement with Elijah’s father.
Marshall described Shemwell as an inadequate mother who neglected Elijah and delayed seeking medical help on January 1 and 2. However, Marshall clarified that the prosecution did not allege Shemwell caused Elijah’s injuries.
On January 1, Shemwell sent a video of Elijah, who was unresponsive with a floppy arm, to friends on Facebook for advice. She filmed him struggling to breathe before finally calling 999 on January 2. During the call, she reported: “I’ve just come back from the shop and my four-month-old isn’t breathing very well, and he’s gone pale and limp.”
In a Snapchat message to Shemwell days before Elijah was hospitalized, Alesbrook complained about the baby’s behavior. Alesbrook claimed to have fed Elijah several times but insisted his responsibilities were minimal. His mother testified that Alesbrook lacked the maturity to care for a baby at 16.
At the time of the murder, Alesbrook was living in a care home and regularly smoked cannabis, a habit he had since age 12. On the day of the fatal assault, Alesbrook was reportedly suffering from a toothache and sought pain relief.
Addressing Alesbrook, Marshall said: “Despite your efforts to console him, you resorted to the only tactic you discovered could stop that baby crying, and that was to shake him. You need experience and maturity to walk away when you’re beginning to lose your patience with a crying baby, but you have neither the experience nor the maturity to just walk away, do you?”
Alesbrook and Shemwell will be sentenced at a later date.
