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UK Mother Jailed 9 Years for Shaking 3-Month-Old Baby to Death
Posted by Gistsnaija.
on 16 December, 2025 |
0
A young mother has been sentenced to nine years in prison after fatally shaking her three-month-old daughter in the United Kingdom.
According to Sky News, Nazli Merthoca, 24, gave birth to her daughter, Kaylani Kalanzi, prematurely. The baby spent 29 days in hospital before being discharged on 13 May 2024.
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Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC told jurors that Merthoca was in a mutually abusive relationship with the child’s father, Herbert Kalanzi. The infant had already been placed under a child protection plan and was on the radar of social services even before birth.
The Old Bailey was told that social services required both parents to demonstrate they were fit caregivers before custody could continue, including Mr Kalanzi attending a fatherhood programme.
However, the prosecution said the strategy failed, and the risks to the child became fatal on 8 July 2024. Emergency services were called shortly before 10:30pm after Kaylani stopped breathing at Merthoca’s grandmother’s flat in Homerton, East London.
Paramedics were not informed that the baby had been violently shaken. Medical examinations later revealed catastrophic brain injuries, bleeding in the brain, eye damage, and fractures to her ribs and tibia.
Kaylani died 15 days later in hospital. During questioning, Merthoca claimed she was being blamed due to her race and gender, hospital staff told the court.
The prosecution stated that Merthoca lost her temper after mounting pressures and repeatedly challenged social workers instead of accepting help.
Defence lawyer Benjamin Aina KC told the court his client had suffered severe childhood abuse, entered the care system at age 12, and later struggled with substance use and exploitation.
A jury cleared Merthoca of murder but found her guilty of manslaughter. Sentencing her to nine years and six months, Judge Mark Lucraft KC described Kaylani’s death as “the loss of a precious life.”
He told Merthoca she would have to live with the knowledge that she caused her daughter’s death.
The child’s father, Herbert Kalanzi, was cleared of causing or allowing the baby’s death and was formally acquitted.
Source: Sky News
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