Derbyshire teenager given indefinite sentence after shaking baby to death

A Matlock teenager has been handed an indefinite sentence after shaking his partner’s baby to death, causing “catastrophic” brain injuries, when he was 16 years old. Carl Alesbrook, now aged 19, caused whiplash-type injuries, bleeding on the brain and multiple bone fractures to four-month-old Elijah Shemwell seven weeks after meeting his mother in November, 2021.

The defendant, previously of Upper Greenhill Gardens denied murdering Elijah but was unanimously convicted after a five-week trial in July and was handed a minimum term of 14 years, minus the time he has already served, at Derby Crown Court on Friday (November 15).

His ex-partner, India Shemwell, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the same court after she admitted two counts of child cruelty in December last year. Alesbrook, had denied murder and causing grievous bodily harm relating to alleged attacks on Elijah between November 18, 2021, and January 2, 2022, three days before his death at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre.

During the trial in July, the jury was told Alesbrook would look after Elijah at Shemwell’s home in Acorn Drive, Belper, while she was out or at work. Prosecutor Vanessa Marshall KC said medical evidence showed Elijah suffered brain damage or subdural bleeding from shaking on at least three separate occasions, including New Year’s Day and January 2, 2022, as well as 17 bruises around his chest, back and stomach caused by “inflicted injury” consistent with being gripped by an adult.

The trial heard that days before Elijah was rushed to hospital on January 2, Alesbrook, who was 16 at the time, sent a Snapchat message to Shemwell, now aged 24, calling the baby a very offensive name.

When asked by defence barrister Mark Heywood KC whether he was ever “unduly angered or irritated” by Elijah, Alesbrook responded “no”, saying that he would never shake a baby because he “knew what was right and what was wrong”.

The jury had been shown a video taken by Shemwell of Elijah unresponsive with a floppy arm on January 1, which she sent to friends on Facebook to ask for advice. Another video shows her son “gasping for breath” before she phoned emergency services on the evening of January 2 and he was taken by an ambulance to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Elijah died three days later on January 5 with fatal head injuries that were described in court as “catastrophic”. Shemwell cried in the dock as the videos of Elijah appearing “lifeless” were played to the court during the sentencing hearing.

She was described during her ex-partner’s trial as “a thoroughly inadequate mother” who generally and specifically neglected to seek prompt medical attention for her son. Prosecutor Vanessa Marshall KC said Shemwell “failed to prioritise the needs of Elijah over her own” and should have known Elijah was “testing Mr Alesbrook’s patience”.

She said: “It is the prosecution’s case that she should have appreciated shortly after he had been shaken, for probably the second time, that Elijah was very unwell and needed medical attention. That is particularly the case when she would have seen, as we have, fresh bruising on Elijah’s face.”

Shemwell’s defence lawyer Darron Whitehead said: “She knows she has let down her son, she knows she has let herself down, and she has let down her family. It is her inactivity, it’s her failings, that will haunt her for the rest of her life. She misses Elijah and no matter what is said in this room, or in writing, she loved her son.”

A victim impact statement by Shemwell’s mother, Rachel Shemwell, read to the court by Ms Marshall, said her daughter was “not the best of mums” and things could have “turned out differently” if she had asked for help. She wrote: “We will never get Elijah back and can only remember the happiness he brought us in his short life.”

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said: “The effect of Eli’s death on those who loved him is evident. Nothing this court can do will assuage their overwhelming sense of loss.”

The judge told Alesbrook: “There is only one sentence that can be imposed and that is detention at His Majesty’s Pleasure.”

Detective Chief Inspector Greg McGill, who led the investigation into 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.”