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The baby murdered by his dad - PICTURES
RELATIVES clutched one another and wept as a "callous, self-centred and unprincipled" father who killed his 11-week-old baby son by shaking and throwing him was jailed for life.
Courtney Bryan, aged 29, was told he should never be allowed under the same roof as a child again by a top judge who ordered him to spend at least 20 years behind bars.
A jury at Sheffield Crown Court took just 90 minutes to find Bryan guilty of murdering little Amaraye Bryan from Upperthorpe in Sheffield.
He was also convicted of three counts of child cruelty - to Amaraye, and to two four-month-old boys who he shook and squeezed violently in Nottingham years earlier.
He left both with broken bones and one with "the most terrible, irreversible brain damage", the court heard.
In each case he tried to blame the babies' mums and even his own mother.
As the verdicts were delivered, dozens of supporters of Amaraye's mother Ginna Gobran - all dressed in red and black T-shirts featuring a picture of the tragic tot - wept with relief.
Ordering Bryan to serve a minimum term of 20 years, Mr Justice Henriques told Bryan: "You are a very real danger to young children. No child should ever be permitted under the same roof as you again."
In a statement read to the court, Ms Gobran said the day doctors turned off her son's life support machine was the worst of her life.
"The day my son died, a bit of me died with him," she said.
"That monster can spend the rest of his life behind bars but it's never going to bring Amaraye back. I just hope he never gets the chance to hurt another baby again."
Describing her son, she said: "He was a beautiful, happy baby, full of life and character even at such a young age. I loved him with all my heart."
Amaraye suffered fatal injuries while being cared for by Bryan at his mother's home in Philadelphia Gardens, Upperthorpe, in May last year.
Mr Justice Henriques said the infant woke his father - who had stayed up late the night before smoking cannabis.
"You were woken up by the baby's crying," he told Bryan. "You shook him so violently you broke out into perspiration.
"When he still carried on crying you hurled his little body across the living room so he struck the sofa and then the wall.
"He suffered such extensive brain damage no doctor could help him."
Bryan, of Aspley, Nottingham, stopped Ms Gobran from taking her son to hospital and tried to force her to say she had dropped him.
"You did everything possible to avoid seeking medical attention," the judge told Bryan. "While in hospital you refused to answer questions. In an act of supreme cowardice you pulled a sweater over your head."
Sentencing him the judge added: "You are a most callous, self-centred and unprincipled individual."
Det Sgt Delphine Waring, who was formally commended for her police investigation, said she was "extremely pleased" with the sentence.
Afterwards Amaraye's aunt Zana Gobran said the family was serving a life sentence, not just Bryan. "We still have good memories of Amaraye, little ones but still precious, and we will treasure them for the rest of our lives," she said.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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