Father sentenced to five years for shaking and killing infant son

The parents had claimed that the twin died of a rare genetic disease but the court ruled that the twins suffered from internal injuries caused by shaking.

By BEN HARTMAN
Newborn baby [Illustrative] (photo credit: INIMAGE)
Newborn baby [Illustrative]
(photo credit: INIMAGE)
A man convicted of shaking his four-month old twins, killing one and badly injuring another, was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday by the Tel Aviv District Court.
In September, the father was convicted of manslaughter and causing physical harm for shaking the twins in January 2012. The mother was not indicted for the incident and was found to not have bene home at the time.
The parents had claimed that the twin died of a rare genetic disease but the court ruled that the twins suffered from internal injuries caused by shaking.
The prosecution also said that medical experts who examined the injuries determined that they were not the result of a one-time incident, rather, that the father repeatedly used shaking to quiet the infants.
Even after the sentencing, there remains a ban on publishing the names of the victims or the parents.
Ahead of the father’s conviction, the state had argued that there was evidence that the shaking caused the death, but that it was unintentional even though the father had intentionally committed acts of violence against the baby who died.
Police began investigating the case after the babies were found to have bone fractures believed to be consistent with “shaken baby” syndrome. Such incidents are typically caused by frustrated parents trying to quiet their babies and not harm them.