A 39-year-old US man has been found guilty of murdering his 10-month-old stepson, Jacob Crouch.
Born in February 2020, Jacob was found dead “in his cot alone”at his home in Linton, near Swadlincote in Derbyshire in December 2020.
Found dead with 39 rib fractures
The doctors later found 39 rib fractures, 19 visible bruises and several internal injuries.
While the boy’s stepfather, Craig Crouch (39), was convicted of murder and three counts of child cruelty, his mother, Gemma Barton (33), was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and a third count of child cruelty.
The couple was arrested on January 5, 2021.
“Jacob Crouch was born into a culture of cruelty where both of the people he should have been able to trust above any other allowed him to be subjected to assault after assault,” Derbyshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Paul Bullock told reporters outside the court.
“Heartbreakingly, for much of Jacob’s short life, he would have been in significant pain as a result of the serious and repeated assaults.”
Couple used to refer Jacob as ‘the devil’
Craig met Gemma while she was four months pregnant with Jacob and they became “very close, very quickly”, calling Jacob “our little boy” after only a month.
During the seven-week trial, a harrowing case of torture and cruelty emerged, with many evidence pointing out how the couple wanted to get rid of their son.
The jury were shown text messages sent between the pair in which they discussed how Gemma needed to be “more regimental” with Jacob to “not let this take over us”, claiming he was “starting to get really p***** off with him” in a later text.
Other messages revealed that the couple even referred Jacob as “the devil” and said he was “pushing us to our limits”.
At one point, Gemma said she had “put back what Jacob threw back down him”, referring to vomit.
In September, when Barton told Crouch she was bathing Jacob, he replied “3 foot deep, just hot water and some bleach xxxx”, a comment he later labelled in a police interview as “banter”, reports Sky News.
During the hearing, prosecutor Mary Prior KC said Jacob’s “bones were broken on at least five occasions” and “he was assaulted with such force that he had a tear in his stomach which became perforated and that caused him to die”.
(With inputs from agencies)
