A woman who killed her baby, four-month-old, by shaking her violently has been jailed for 15 years.
28-year old Melissa Wilband was found guilty earlier this year by a jury of the manslaughter of Lexi Wilband, who collapsed at their home in Newent, Gloucestershire.
Previously, Bristol Crown Court heard that Lexi died after bleeding on her brain, probably as a result of being violently shaken, both recently and on at least one earlier occasion.
Mr Justice Saini, passing sentence, told Wilband: “You killed Lexi by violently shaking her at the family home in Newent.
“Lexi was killed by you when the country was in the first national COVID-19 lockdown.”
The Judge told the court that after an meal in the evening, Wilband had shaken Lexi while bathing her. “Immediately after this,” he said, “she went floppy”.
He continued: “Your shaking of Lexi led to severe bleeding in her brain. I am sure on the evidence that Lexi had been shaken by you in another, less violent, incident before that Easter Sunday.
“Only you will know why you acted in the way you did. It is hard to imagine the pain that Lexi must have suffered both from the past violence and the violence that led to her death.
“She would have cried out in anguish.”
31-year old Jack Wheeler, Wilband’s former partner, was acquitted of causing or allowing Lexi’s death. Charges of manslaughter against him were withdrawn during the trial after prosecutors offered no evidence.
Photos: Gloucestershire Constabulary
