CANADA • Kayleigh INGRAM-SUMMERS, 4 months old (2010) ~ Cambridge ON

Infant dies after assault
More charges expected against 19-year-old father
July 13, 2010


Sean Michael Summers pictured here with four-month-old daughter Kayleigh Ingram-Summers.

A four-month-old Cambridge infant has died after fighting for her life this weekend in a Hamilton hospital following an assault.

Waterloo Regional Police confirmed today that Kayleigh Ingram-Summers died yesterday and a post-mortem examination has been scheduled to determine the cause of death.

The baby’s 19-year-old father, Sean Michael Summers, is charged with aggravated assault and further charges are pending following an investigation by homicide and divisional detectives in partnership with the coroner’s office and Family and Children’s Services of Waterloo Region.

Summers is still in custody awaiting another court appearance this week.

The baby girl was taken to Cambridge Memorial Hospital Friday after a family member noticed she appeared unwell. She was later moved to a Hamilton hospital to be treated for life-threatening injuries.

Hospital staff notified police after questioning the baby’s injuries. Summers was arrested a short time later.

Summers, a graduate of Jacob Hespeler Secondary School, recently described himself to be involved in an “it’s complicated” relationship status with Kayleigh’s mother, Kaitlyn Ingram, on his Facebook account. But he recently changed his relationship status to single.

Conversations with contacts on the Internet social networking site urged him to get his life together and start taking responsibility for his baby, as well as find and keep a job.
Police aren’t releasing any details regarding the nature of the baby’s injuries or the circumstances leading to her death.

Kayleigh was alone with her father on Friday before she was taken to hospital.

http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news/local/article/847033--infant-dies-after-assault

Cambridge man gets eight years for shaking death of infant
May 30, 2011

A young man who had asked not to be left alone with his infant daughter was sentenced Monday to the equivalent of eight years in prison for shaking her to death.

Sean Summers, 20, pleaded guilty to manslaughter while caring for four-month-old Kayleigh Ingram-Summers in his rented basement bedroom on Houghton Street in Cambridge last July.

Crown prosecutor Marg Janzen argued Summers abused the child because he was jealous and angry at his estranged girlfriend, Kaitlyn Ingram, then 18, for seeing other men.

“It’s all about trying to get back at Kaitlyn and Kayleigh bore the cost of that with her life,” she said.

Janzen cited that scenario as an aggravating factor while calling for a 10-year prison sentence for Summers, who had no prior record.

It was rejected by Justice Stephen Glithero, however, because an agreed statement of facts — negotiated by the prosecution and the defence — didn’t draw a direct link between his anger and the abuse.

No motive for the shaking, which caused devastating head injuries, was specifically spelled out in court after the guilty plea.

But it was clear Summers, recently unemployed and living on his own after graduating from Jacob Hespeler Secondary School, had said he didn’t want to look after the infant on his own.

“Kayleigh was essentially thrust upon him,” said defence lawyer Brennan Smart.

Social workers from Family and Children’s Services of Waterloo Region got involved with the young couple about a month prior to the death after bruises were seen on the child.

And in a meeting about two weeks before the death, Summers “expressed concerns about his ability to parent in times of stress.”

As a result, there was an agreement in which Ingram, who lived with her parents and had primary care of Kayleigh, was supposed to supervise his visits.

Despite that agreement, arrangements were made for Summers to care for his daughter alone for three days in July.

On the second day, according to the agreed facts, he said he didn’t want to do it again, but the child was dropped off anyway.

Within an hour, he began leaving Ingram text and voice messages asking when she was coming to get Kayleigh, calling her vile names and accusing her of not caring about her daughter.

By that afternoon, he had also left a message at the child-welfare agency and told Ingram their daughter was “having a hard time breathing.”

Ingram and her father immediately took the child to hospital because she was lethargic and unresponsive when they picked her up at the appointed time that night.

While there, Ingram received more messages.

“When you get this message, it might be too late,” Summers said in one. “I’ve decided to give up my rights as her father.”

A few minutes later, he left a message telling Ingram that he loved her and asking her to give Kayleigh a hug and a kiss for him.

“I’m going to go away for a very long time,” Summers said. “Bye.”

Transferred to a Hamilton hospital because of the severe brain injuries, Kayleigh was taken off life support and died two days later.

Summers was initially charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter in Superior Court in Kitchener.

“The guilt and shame I feel … will be carried with me for the rest of my life,” he said in a brief apology.

Ingram and other relatives gave emotional victim impact statements describing their pain and struggles to deal with the death of the otherwise healthy, happy child.

“She was the only thing I have ever done right in my whole life,” she said. “She was the only thing I was ever proud of.”

Ingram, who met Summers in high school and dated him off and on for about 16 months, said she still wakes up in the night at feeding times and looks over to where a crib used to be.

“No one ever deserves to go through what I have been through,” she said. “The loss of a child is cruel and I can’t see how anyone can move on after losing the love of an innocent baby.”

Her mother, Karen, said she doesn’t know how to help her daughter as she watches her suffer.

“It is not something a mother can fix with a hug,” she said.

Frances Scott, an aunt who spoke on behalf of the Summers family, mouthed “I love you” to Summers in the prisoner’s dock as she walked back from giving her statement.

“Our family not only lost Kayleigh, but we lost Sean also,” Scott said.

Smart said Summers, 19 at the time of the death, was under stress and questioning his self-worth after the pregnancy and birth.

While in jail since his arrest, he has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and is now on medication.

With time deducted for pretrial custody, Summers has six years and eight months left to serve.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/540210--cambridge-man-gets-eight-years-for-shaking-death-of-infant

If the info in the above articles is correct, why in the h@ll did the mother leave the baby with Sean. He clearly indicated he wasn't fit to take care of the baby. I think she (and her parents) was negligent for leaving the baby with him especially after the first day when he said he didn't want to watch the baby and wasn't fit to. The mother had orders from child services not to leave the baby alone with Sean and she did. So sad.