February 2012
Mums in baby batterer Adam Hewitt case hit out at social services
TWO young mums have hit out at social services after accusing them of failures that allowed a man to batter their babies.
Adam Hewitt, 25, hit, shook and squeezed the two babies, leaving one with serious injuries.
He was jailed for a total of five years for two counts of GBH by Judge Jeremy Baker QC at Hull Crown Court last week.
The mums, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a Sunday newspaper they felt the sentence isn’t long enough.
The first mother, who was just 17 years old when she met Hewitt, said: “He got just five years for attacking both babies. It’s disgraceful.
“I nearly got sectioned one night because I just couldn’t deal with it any more.”
Social services insisted her mother had to look after her child instead of her while the investigation was carried out.
The woman said: “Mum was the only one allowed to be with my child alone.
“I couldn’t face watching my mum doing what I should be doing and it hurt like hell.
“My baby was running to my mum crying and it killed me. It got on top of me and I turned to drink.”
The second mother still feels bitter about the way social services handled the matter.
Two senior social workers were sacked in the wake of the investigation after they were accused of failing to protect the second baby.
That child’s mother said: “For the past three years, I have been led to believe what happened was my fault and I had let my child down. I think I deserve an apology.
“Sacking two people isn’t good enough – they can’t go to work now but my life is ruined.
“Guilt isn’t the word for what I feel, it’s something past guilt.”
Hewitt was working as a holiday rep when he met one of the mothers in Bridlington in 2007. The former pig farmer assaulted her baby after it was left in his care.
Friends and relatives of the woman saw him throw the child three metres across a room on to a sofa and dangle the baby by the leg.
When his girlfriend left him alone with her baby to go to the supermarket, he attacked the child, causing a complex skull fracture.
The baby spent nine days in hospital.
Hewitt’s relationship with the mother ended when suspicions over his involvement in the child’s injury grew.
In 2008, he met another mother of a young baby.
She noticed marks on her ten-month-old baby and a red handprint on its face, but refused to believe Hewitt was responsible.
Four weeks later, he squeezed and shook her baby, causing a serious head injury.
The trial heard the baby suffered 11 fractured ribs and a broken leg.
The child had to spend a month in hospital, needing emergency surgery.
Hewitt was given a two-year sentence for the first attack and three years for the second to run consecutively.
During sentencing, Judge Jeremy Baker QC told Hewitt he had been given a jail sentence because he was considered a risk to children.
He said: “I am satisfied you pose significant risk to very young children.
“You have a low tolerance level to the behaviour of young children and you lose your temper and you are unsuitable to be left in sole charge.”
February 2012
Bridlington man Adam Hewitt jailed for injuring two babies
A Bridlington man who caused serious injuries to two babies in separate attacks has been jailed.
Adam Hewitt, 25, left a baby with a fractured skull in 2007. Two years later he attacked a second child, leaving it with permanent brain damage.
Hull Crown Court heard that at the time of the incidents Hewitt had been in a relationship with the babies’ mothers.
He was jailed for five years after being convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm at a previous hearing.
The court heard Hewitt was unable control his temper and was described as a danger to young children.
Speaking after the sentencing, Det Insp Alan Dorning, of Humberside Police said: “Adam Hewitt managed to convince two women that he was on the face of it a caring and loving partner when in fact he went on to harm the children.
“He did so when there were no witnesses and when there was nobody there to defend the children.”
