Bristol: Dad who shook baby jailed for manslaughter

Marcus Carter admitted killing baby Remari Collins at an address in Easton, Bristol, in August 2020

A two-month-old baby died after his father shook him so violently that the boy was left brain dead.

Remari Collins died in August 2020 - 11 days after Marcus Carter, 43, shook him when he would not settle at their home in Easton, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Carter, from Walsall, admitted manslaughter and has been jailed for seven years and eight months.

He was cleared of murder because the act was a "momentary loss of control".

'Helpless'

Jailing Carter, the Honourable Mrs Justice Hill KC said: "You grossly abused your position of trust.

"Remari was helpless. It was your duty as a father to protect him."

The court heard that Carter, of Burns Road in Moxley, had spent 10 August 2020 at the Bristol home he shared with Remari's mother Amber Collins.

Ms Collins left Carter and a young person in the house with the baby at around 22:00BST to go to the shops.

While Remari's mother was out, the young person heard Carter say "Remari, Remari, Remari" and then "oh my god" while she was upstairs.

She ran downstairs and saw him shaking Remari, trying to make him come back to life, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, Ms Collins - who was in a relationship with Carter for two years - said she never got to find out what her son was like "because his life was stolen" from her.

'It haunts me'

She said: "A piece of me will be with him forever and I will never be whole again.

"I had to listen to my son suffer as he died. It haunts me thinking about how frightened he would have been when Marcus shook him."

She said she still did not know exactly what happened on 10 August 2020 - but Carter was responsible for her son's death.

"You were supposed to be his dad Marcus and love him and protect him. You shook him to death. Does my son's face haunt you?

"What could have happened to make someone shake a baby with such force? I will never truly find out how my baby died. Marcus you have taken my son.

"He has been robbed. I have been robbed," she said.

Carter was jailed for seven years and eight months

Bristol Crown Court heard Carter called 999 and tried to perform CPR after shaking his son.

But he later lied to paramedics and police officers about how Remari came to suffer his injuries, the court was told.

Mitigating, Gareth James said Carter had "lost his self-control" and was "otherwise a reasonable and caring parent".

"It is the act of a parent who has lost his self-control, momentarily, and was not premeditated," he added.

He said Carter had suffered depressive disorders since Remari's death.

The judge said it was clear Carter "mourned his son genuinely" but said he had not shown "genuine remorse" as he initially lied about what happened.

Carter will serve two-thirds of his sentence before being released on licence for the remainder.