Boyfriend shook partner's toddler to death inflicting car-crash style injuries

10 November 2023 , 17:00

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Maya was just two years old (Image: gofundme.com)

A man who murdered his new girlfriend's toddler by shaking her to death after learning his Universal Credit had been stopped will be jailed for life.

Michael Daymond, 27, attacked two-year-old Maya Chappell with such force that damage found in her eyes was similar to that suffered by people in car accidents or who had fallen from a tall building, Teesside Crown Court was told. Her mother Dana Carr was convicted of child cruelty by neglect and allowing the death of a child.

The prosecution said she had effectively closed her eyes to the bruises Daymond inflicted on her little girl while she left her daughter in his care to go to work. Daymond was convicted of murder and a child cruelty charge relating to those bruises, following a trial which lasted three weeks.

Michael Daymond was found guilty of murdering his partner's toddler (PA)

Dana Carr was convicted of child cruelty by neglect and allowing the death of a child (PA)

Carr, 24, and Maya's father James Chappell had split up acrimoniously and she was besotted with her new partner who she had only met a few weeks before. She rapidly moved in with him to a property in Shotton Colliery, County Durham. While Carr was at work in Stockton, Teesside, she left Maya in Daymond's sole care on September 28 last year.

In the hours leading up to the fatal attack, Daymond made repeated calls and log-in attempts to sort out his Universal Credit status, and by around 2pm he had found out it had been cut off. Around 90 minutes later, he quickly dialled Carr - presumably to tell her that something had happened to Maya - before he rang 999 to say he had found the little girl "gasping for breath".

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As Carr tried to race back home, she texted Daymond, saying words to the effect: "I'm coming", "please don't leave me" and "are you ok". Ben Nolan KC, prosecuting, pointed out to the jury: "Not a single message asking about Maya." Daymond, who has no previous convictions, did not give evidence in his defence.

Little Maya was killed (Facebook)

He told police that Maya must have fallen out of bed, but a series of medical experts told the court they were sure that her injuries were not accidental. She died in hospital two days after the attack as a result of a "constellation" of injuries, having never regained consciousness, the court heard.

Maya's father had raised concerns about bruising he saw on his daughter's body during visits she had with him. But Carr repeatedly lied to him about them, the court heard. The mother also told the court that she was pregnant with twins, by Daymond, at the time of Maya's death, and that she decided to have a termination after he was charged with murder.

But the prosecution said inquiries were made with the clinic she said she used, and there was no record of her having a termination there. The former couple, who were convicted unanimously of all charges, will be sentenced once reports have been prepared.

Carr was granted bail ahead of the sentencing while Daymond was remanded in custody.

Kelly-Ann Mills