Mehmet Tufan tried to claim the baby was unresponsive because a hair was stuck in his throat as paramedics fought to save the child’s life after he shook the five-week-old causing serious brain damage
A “jealous” dad has wept in court after it was told how he shook his newborn son leaving him blinded and with “catastrophic” brain damage after his partner went on a night out with pals.
Mehmet Tufan tried to claim the baby was unresponsive because a hair was stuck in his throat, as paramedics fought to save the child’s life.
However he later confessed to shaking little Leo Williams “with considerable force” so hard he was left with a range of devastating disabilities – he eventually died as a result of his injuries aged just four.
Today saw Tufan weeping in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as he was jailed for killing his own son more than seven years on from the harrowing incident.
Tufan’s then partner gave birth to “healthy baby” Leo on March 10, 2018 with “no difficulties or complications during his birth or pregnancy,” the court heard.
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Just five weeks after his birth Leo left in the then 23-year-old defendant’s sole care at their home on Sennen Road in Kirkby when his mum went out with friends for the evening, the Liverpool Echo reports.
But Andrew Haslam KC, prosecuting, detailed how, shortly before 2am on April 14, Leo was found unresponsive and with a “catastrophic brain injury” by paramedics who had been called to the scene by his dad.
A series of texts exchanged between the couple in the intervening hours were said to have shown Tufan, now aged 30 and of Dovecot Place, Dovecot, “appearing to become increasingly frustrated with and anxious about her being out with her friends”.
Shortly after midnight, he again contacted his girlfriend stating that he was dialling 999 as Leo was “having major fits”. At around 12.45am, Tufan went on to send a further text in which he claimed to have pulled a hair from within the baby’s throat. Then, at 1.40am, he called the North West Ambulance Service and reported his son was “hiccupping, not breathing and profusely sweating”.
Paramedics found Leo with no heartbeat but were able to resuscitate him following extensive efforts but at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, the tiny baby was found to have sustained an “an extensive brain injury, blood in his spinal cord and extensive retinal haemorrhages”.
Doctors concluded that these injuries had been inflicted “non-accidentally, mostly likely due to being shaken with considerable force”. When spoken to by police at around 3.30am, the dad claimed that Leo had “started making gurgling noises” and went on to repeat his account of having removed a hair from his son’s throat.
But later the same morning, he went on to confess that he had “shaken Leo for about a minute while telling him to breathe” before “throwing him onto the bed so he could call an ambulance”. When interviewed on May 8, he told detectives that he had been “upset about the lad who approached [his partner] in the bar”.He was also found to have failed to contact the emergency services for “at least 20 minutes” after attacking his son.
Tufan was given two years behind bars for the assault in 2019 after admitting grievous bodily harm on his son. Leo was however left with permanent disabilities, including being rendered blind and suffering from “significant neurological impairment”.
He spent several periods being treated at Alder Hey and Claire House Children’s Hospice where he was admitted in November 2022 as a result of intestinal failure, sustained as a result of the difficulties he had developed after being shaken by his dad, and ultimately died at the age of only four years and nine months on December 15.
Tufan was then charged with his son’s manslaughter earlier this year. Janet Ironfield, defending, told the court that her client “carried an emotional burden as a result of his actions”, continuing to suffer from nightmares and “flashbacks to his unlawful act of violence”.
She added that the time of the offence was the first time he had been left in charge of Leo alone and told how he had suffered physical and verbal abuse during his time in prison from other inmates aware of his crime. “He has become socially isolated as a result of his own actions,” she said adding it had been hard for him tto find work.
Tufan admitted the further count of manslaughter during a previous hearing in July. At the sentencing today he was seen in tears with his head in his hands during the hearing before being handed six-and-a-half years in prison.
This was reduced from seven-and-a-half years to take account of his previous two-year term. Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “The victim of your offence was your son, Leo Williams, who was just five weeks old at the time that you inflicted upon him catastrophic brain injuries.
“She was plainly perfectly entitled to go out that evening with her friends. She had recently given birth. For her, it would have been a welcome night out. At the time, you were in employment. You were a transport operator with responsibility for a number of men.
“You were available to look after Leo that night, but I accept that you were inexperienced in doing so and that this may have been your first experience in solely looking after him. In the early hours, when you were jealous and frustrated over your partner’s absence, you shook Leo with considerable force and threw him down onto the bed.
“This shaking caused extensive brain injury. This was not as a result of an accident or innocent rough handling. It was plainly as a result of a violent act against a helpless baby. “
Of Leo’s mum, the judge added: “Her grief will last a lifetime. It is right that I should record the extraordinary courage shown by his mother. She bore the daily burden of her son’s suffering in order to give him comfort and dignity. Her strength in these years stands as a powerful testament for her love for Leo.”
He added: “I am told that you now have a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. You have attempted suicide and self medicated with cocaine, and continue to be socially isolated.”