Jealous teenager sent abusive messages about baby before shaking him to death, court heard

A teenager accused of killing a four-month-old baby denied being “unduly angry or irritated” by the child but called him a “c***” in a Snapchat message, a court has heard.

Jurors were told Elijah Shemwell, who was four months old when he died in January 2022, suffered broken limbs and ribs caused by shaking by his mother's ex-partner.

Carl Alesbrook, 19, was called to give evidence at his trial at Derby Crown Court on Tuesday, charged with one count of murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm in connection with alleged attacks on Elijah.

A charge of grievous bodily harm was withdrawn by Judge Jeremy Baker due to lack of sufficient evidence, on the basis of which he asked the jury to find the defendant not guilty.

Days before Elijah was rushed to hospital on January 2, Alesbrook, who was 16 at the time, sent a Snapchat message to Elijah's mother, India Shemwell, calling the baby a “c***.”

Ms Shemwell, 23, messaged him saying she was going to buy some formula, to which Alesbrook replied: “He's acting like a dick, he keeps spitting it up. He doesn't need changing either, I checked 10 minutes ago.”

When asked by defence lawyer Mark Heywood KC if he was “unduly angry or irritated” by Elijah, Alesbrook replied “no”.

The defendant, of Upper Greenhill Gardens, Matlock, told the jury he had fed Elijah “a number of times” but it was only “out of responsibility”.

Prosecutor Vanessa Marshall KC said the child's crying could cause the 16-year-old to “lose his temper”, especially if he was “not feeling very well himself”.

The jury heard evidence that Alesbrook had been suffering from toothache and had asked for co-codamol to treat it.

She addressed Alesbrook: “Despite your efforts to comfort him, you resorted to the only tactic you had discovered to stop this baby from crying: shaking him.

“You shook him at least twice, once of which killed him.”

Mr Alesbrook also denied being “in love” with Ms Shemwell or being “jealous” that she was still seeing the father of her child.

But evidence was presented to the jury that Alesbrook had sent her a message saying it “hurt” him that she had slept with Elijah's father just four hours after the defendant helped her home.

Ms Marshall said it had “really upset” Alesbrook, but he said: “I wouldn't say it really upset me, it would be more of a shock that it has happened in such a short space of time.”

The trial continues.