Dad Who Crushed Premature Baby Son’s Skull And Broke His Neck Jailed For Life

Father Daniel Gunter, who “crushed” the skull of his newborn son before stepping outside to smoke a cigarette, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Premature infant Brendon Statton was only two weeks old when his father assaulted him in his cot at Yeovil District Hospital’s special care baby unit in Somerset, causing “catastrophic injuries” to his head, neck, legs, and jaw.

Nurses, working just five metres away, were unaware as he committed the horrific act, fracturing the baby’s neck.

Gunter, aged 27, denied causing harm to the vulnerable child on March 5 last year but was convicted of murd£r after a three-week trial.

On October 3, Gunter received a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years.

Bristol Crown Court was told how nurses in the unit fought desperately to revive tiny Brendon after discovering him with severe injuries.

The court learned that the baby’s critical condition was noticed after his mother, Sophie Staddon, alerted nurses that he felt cold and requested they check on him.

Describing the harrowing scene, prosecutor Charles Row KC told the trial: “Staff found him lying in his cot with his baby grow open. They immediately saw that he wasn’t just cold but that he had suffered catastrophic injuries.

“In plain language, his head had been crushed so as to shatter his skull. He was badly bruised from head to toe, with deep scratches in his neck. He was later found to have, amongst other injuries, a broken neck, a broken jaw, broken legs, broken ankles and broken wrists.”

By the time staff realized the severity of the situation, Gunter had already left the unit to smoke a cigarette, abandoning his son with fatal injuries.

The prosecution stated that staff carried Brendon’s “limp, lifeless body” to the resuscitation area, but the infant tragically failed to respond to treatment. Gunter and Staddon, 23, were arrested by police while smoking outside the hospital.

Gunter told officers: “At no stage did I do anything to Brendon that could have caused him any injury. I was with Sophie the whole time, and she didn’t do anything either.”

In a separate statement, he claimed: “I would never hurt my baby boy.”

The baby’s mother, cleared of causing or allowing the de@th of a child, told police: “I had done nothing to harm Brendon at all. I love him. He was my everything. I would not have harmed him.”

A post-mortem examination concluded that Brendon di£d of “blunt force impact(s) head injury” with multiple non-accidental head injuries.

During the trial, DCI Nadine Partridge of Avon and Somerset police described Gunter as selfish, criticizing his behavior of laughing and joking in the dock, as reported by The Guardian.

Brendon, born prematurely at 33 weeks’ gestation and weighing only 1.83kg at birth, had already faced numerous challenges in his brief life, which ended in an unimaginably brutal manner.

Ms. Partridge told the court that Gunter likely twisted and pulled the newborn’s limbs, possibly even gripping him by the legs and striking him against hard surfaces.

She stated: “You don’t want to imagine what happened to him in those last moments.”

While Gunter offered no explanation for the murd£r, police believe he may have been driven by concerns that his then-partner, Staddon, might relocate to a mother and baby unit, where no accommodation would be available for him.

Gunter and Staddon, who had an unstable relationship, were homeless and living in temporary accommodation in a former Yeovil pub when she became pregnant with Brendon.

The court was informed that Gunter had been “violent” toward Staddon, controlling her finances and social interactions. A social worker who visited the couple in January 2024 warned them that authorities planned to remove the child from their care after birth.

Prosecutor Mr. Row told jurors that the couple showed no emotion upon hearing this, stating: “The authorities were concerned about many things, including their precarious housing situation, the way Mr Gunter appeared to control Ms Staddon and her finances, Ms Staddon’s physical and mental health and their lack of engagement.”

Before Brendon’s de@th, social services and Gunter’s family had reportedly raised concerns about the “lack of emotional warmth” the couple displayed toward their baby, born on February 20, 2024.

Despite efforts to convince Staddon to stay in the hospital, she opted to return to the accommodation she shared with Gunter.

Gunter consistently disregarded nurses’ advice at the unit, removing Brendon from his incubator without permission, overstimulating the newborn to the point of distress, and taking out his nasal gastric tube.

Family members had observed Gunter shouting and becoming angry with Brendon during hospital visits, noting his rough handling of the child.

Gunter’s aunt, Louise Besica, recalled: “I felt like he had no patience. He was really rough with him with how he was putting him in his babygrow.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli