A 29-year-old Co Armagh man has been given a life sentence after he was found guilty by a jury of murdering his son.
After deliberating for more than six hours, the jury at Belfast Crown Court convicted Craig Rowland, Millington Park, Portadown, of murdering his son, Lewis Oliver Rowland, who died aged three in October 2018.
The child sustained life-changing brain injuries in November 2015 after being violently shaken by his father when he was 13 weeks old.
In a trial that spanned a period of four weeks, the jury heard that on November 20th, 2015, Craig Rowland and Laura Graham (31) brought their son Lewis to Craigavon Area Hospital.
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When the pair arrived at the hospital, medics were told that the evening before, their son had been unsettled and unwell.
The gravely ill baby underwent a CT scan that revealed he had serious brain injuries which resulted in a permanent and severe disability.
Further examinations of Lewis on that date revealed he also had a spinal injury, a healing rib fracture and multiple bruises on his neck, head and chest.
Due to the severity of his injuries, Lewis was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast that afternoon suffering from a bleed to his brain.
The jury also heard that after being released from the Royal Hospital, Lewis was taken into foster care. He could not walk or talk and had to be fed through a nasal tube, but he could smile at his foster parents.
He died following complications arising from surgery on October 20th, 2018.
It was the prosecution’s case that the “non-accidental” and “catastrophic” brain injuries suffered by Lewis – which a number of medical professionals determined were as a result of the baby being shaken – played a significant role in his death.
During the trial, Rowland admitted telling lies “here and there” to police in the aftermath of his son’s death. He accepted his son had sustained injuries but denied he was the one responsible.
Rowland displayed no emotion as he stood in the dock of Belfast Crown Court when the guilty verdict was delivered.
Mr Justice O’Hara jailed him for life. “There will be a hearing as soon as possible as to what the minimum time you will spend in prison is before you are considered for release by the Parole Commissioners,” the judge said.
Saying “this has not been an easy case to hear” as it involved “the killing of an infant”, Mr Justice O’Hara told the jury that information would be provided to them if they required help or support.
As the eight men and four women of the jury were making their way from the court, Rowland shouted “the verdict is a f***ing joke”.
This prompted Mr Justice O’Hara to tell defence barrister Seamus McNeill to “have a word with your client”.
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