Babysitting aunt who shook her seven-month-old niece to death receives lenient sentence after tot’s PARENTS begged judge to go easy
Mum-of-three Chuanfang Zheng, 31, jailed for just six years after mercy plea from family of baby Phoebe Guo
A BABYSITTING aunt who shook her seven-month-old niece to death when she would not stop crying has been jailed for just six years — after the baby's father pleaded for mercy.
Chuanfang Zheng, 31, flipped and killed baby Phoebe Guo just 30 minutes after being left in charge while the tot's mum Ling Ling worked at the family's Chinese takeaway.
Zheng then lied about what happened and even tried to blame the baby's mother for her death, a court heard.
But astonishingly, after she was found guilty of manslaughter her family begged the judge to be lenient so she could be reunited with her own children sooner, .
Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said he was “moved” by a statement from Phoebe’s father, Hon Gli Guo, expressing the whole family’s love for the defendant.
The judge said: “Hon Gli Guo urges me to exercise compassion in these terms. ‘On behalf of my family I sincerely plead to the Honourable Judge to be lenient when sentencing Chuanfang Zheng, so that she can reunite with her family and to be with her children again as soon as possible’.”
The judge said he initially considered jailing Zheng for eight years, but cut it to six to reflect the plea made by the victim's family.
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Little Phoebe suffered "a catastrophic and ultimately fatal injury with significant bleeding on the brain and behind the eyes," her trial heard.
Experts said the tot's non-accidental injury was caused by "severe" and "repetitive" force with a "rotational, acceleration-deceleration" - also known as shaken baby syndrome.
Zheng was caring for her own three children, then aged five, three and eight months, when she "lost control" and violently shook Phoebe at her home in Lutterworth, Leics.
Adrian Langdale, prosecuting, told Leicester Crown Court: "This was a small flat and she had the care of four very young children, who appeared to be crying and requiring attention and feeding.
"The defendant herself describes Phoebe as repeatedly crying and refusing to eat.
"What is clear from the facts, and all agree, including the defendant, is that when Phoebe was left in her care, she was well, behaving normally and exhibiting no signs of ill-health.
"Yet whilst in the care of this defendant her young niece suffered catastrophic injuries including substantial traumatic brain injury and very extensive bleeding of the eyes described by an expert as very much at the severe end of the range."
Zheng ran two doors down the road to the family-run Chinese takeaway the Great Wall carrying the unconscious Phoebe in her arms.
She died three days later in hospital.
Zheng still denies killing Phoebe despite the guilty verdict.
She told cops the baby became unwell and lost consciousness after choking on food, and blamed Phoebe's injuries on her mother Ling Ling's attempts to resuscitate her.
The sentencing judge said: “We will never know precisely what happened in the minutes before 7.30pm on March 22, 2015.
“What seems most likely is that Ms Zheng became frustrated by Phoebe’s persistent crying and shook her to try and make her stop.
“This, it seems to me, is a case in which in frustration Ms Zheng briefly lost control of her temper.
“This was not what is sometimes called an ‘end of tether’ situation.
“I don’t doubt that Ms Zheng is very conscious of Ling Ling and Hon Gli’s loss.
“But she still denies wrongdoing and so she has shown no real remorse.
“Of course, the effect of her actions upon her own family will be profound.”
Defence barrister Sally Howes said whether it was “frustration trying to feed Phoebe” or a “flash of anger”, there was no doubt that she was “saddened and devastated” by the death of Phoebe, whom she had “adored”.
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