Craig Carth: Man who punched four-year-old so hard she was left in intensive care has been jailed for 13 years
Craig Carth assaulted the child with such force he ripped two holes in her intestine
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A man who punched a four-year-old girl so hard she was in intensive care for days has been jailed for 13 years.
Craig Carth, 27, was found guilty by jury at Kingston Crown Court last month of causing grievous bodily harm to the girl following a three-week trial. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was assaulted in March last year. She was rushed to hospital in the early hours of 26 March when her mother called the emergency services, because the child had been vomiting.
The girl was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting where she underwent surgery. Doctors discovered the child had two holes ripped open in the front wall of her intestine, and managed to establish that trauma to the girl’s upper abdomen, which she had sustained in the previous 48 hours, was likely the cause of her severe injury.
The small child spent days fighting for her life in intensive care in the days following surgery. She has since made a full recovery.
Carth was arrested at the time, along with another man and two women, but was not charged until February this year. The three other defendants were found not guilty of causing or allowing the serious harm of a young child.
Detective Sergeant Tariq Farooqi, of Wandsworth child abuse investigation team, said: “This is a substantial sentence and I am pleased that Carth will now be in prison for a significant amount of time.
”I'm glad that the weight of evidence helped the jury come to a unanimous finding of guilt against Carth.
“Had it not been for the excellence of the consultant paediatric surgeon and staff at St George's Hospital, this young girl may well have died. Thankfully she has made a full recovery.”
Additional reporting by PA