Man Assaulted Newborn Daughter Till She Died 3 Weeks Later

A Glasgow, Scotland, court heard Thursday that a father killed his 23-day-old daughter by "repeatedly assaulting her from the day she was born until she died.”

Mikayla Haining was allegedly killed by her father, Thomas Haining, at her home in Mackay Road, Inverness, Scotland, in June 2017. He allegedly inflicted blunt force trauma on her, leaving her critically injured. She succumbed to the injuries, Sun reported.

Though police had initially treated the death as "unexplained," they later on described it as "suspicious". Following the incident, Thomas had paid tribute to his daughter on social media. His house was sealed off and officials carried out door-to-door inquiries in the area as part of the investigation.

Thomas’ advocate, Shelagh McCall QC, said there was a problem getting expert medical witnesses for the defense and that she has now approached medical experts from London.

“There is a dearth of experts for this kind of case in Scotland and those there are have been snapped up by the Crown,” she said, Daily Mail reported.

The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2018.

In a similar incident in November, a man was arrested for punching a two-month-old in the head and beating her to death. Florida man Artem Eydelman was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of violation of probation after Gwendolyn Eydelman was found lying unresponsive in her house.

The baby was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors said she had severe skull fracture and had also suffered bleeding on the brain. Several of her ribs were fractured. She was taken off life support a few days later and she succumbed to the injuries.

Artem was not the child’s biological father and had begun dating the child’s biological mother when the latter was three months pregnant. The mother was not at home when the incident took place. Artem called police and initially told them he had gone to sleep after feeding the child. When he got up, he found the child unresponsive.

However, he later changed his statement and said he was frustrated after changing that baby’s diaper and punched her head with his fist. He also said he squeezed the baby’s midsection.

In another similar incident in India last month, a man slit his 6-month-old daughter's neck and chopped her fingers after having a fight with his wife over the latter's alleged affair with another man living in the neighborhood.

He told police he confronted his wife about the affair and when she did not respond, he slit his daughter’s throat in a fit of rage. The child was taken to a nearby hospital where doctor’s said her vocal cord was cut and hence her speech may be severely impaired.