A woman has been found guilty of manslaughter after violently shaking her four-month-old daughter, leading to her death.
Melissa Wilband, 28, was arrested after her daughter, Lexi Wilband, collapsed at their home in Newent, Forest of Dean, during the first Covid lockdown.
Tests revealed Lexi had bleeding on her brain, which the court believed was caused by being violently shaken shortly before collapsing, and possibly on earlier occasions as well.
At Bristol Crown Court, the jury learned that Wilband had become pregnant with Lexi while on a break from her then-partner, Jack Wheeler. She had tried to deceive him into believing he was the father by showing him a fake paternity test.
Wheeler, 31, from Ledbury, Herefordshire, had also been accused of manslaughter, but the charge was dropped during the trial. The jury found him not guilty of causing or allowing Lexi’s death.
Wilband testified in court, explaining that she had been in a relationship with Wheeler for about three years. However, Lexi was conceived with another man during their separation.
The court heard that Wilband faked a DNA test during her pregnancy, claiming Wheeler was “100%” the father. She had misspelled the word “father,” which raised Wheeler’s suspicions.
After Lexi’s birth, a real DNA test confirmed that Wheeler was not the biological father. In court, Wilband admitted to faking the test, saying: “I wanted him to be Lexi’s dad.”
Regarding the night of Lexi’s collapse on April 12, 2020, Wilband claimed that Lexi had hurt herself while in a baby bouncer.
Lexi was taken by ambulance to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital before being transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where she died on April 18.
Paramedics noted that Wilband was rolling a cigarette and using her phone while answering questions. When medical staff asked if she wanted to hold her baby before she was intubated, Wilband declined. A nurse held Lexi’s hand as she passed away.
During the trial, the jury also heard that Wilband used cocaine while in bed, with Lexi lying in a Moses basket beside her.
Miranda Moore KC, representing Wheeler, suggested to Wilband that she had shaken her daughter. Wilband replied: “My daughter was my life. I never killed my daughter, I am telling you.”
Outside court, Det Insp Adam Stacey of Gloucestershire Police said: “Wilband told lie after lie after lie – right from Lexi’s conception, and all the way throughout the pregnancy. These lies continued, including with medical professionals trying to save Lexi’s life, to the police, and all the way through her testimony in court. The jury saw those lies for what they were. Lexi should be five years old now, with her whole future ahead of her. She was shaken by someone who should have been protecting her.”
Wheeler’s family issued a statement saying: “Obviously, we are relieved that this trial is over and Jack has been found not guilty on both counts. It has been a difficult five years. But we do not forget that a little girl he loved as his own has lost her life.”
Wilband has been granted conditional bail and will be sentenced on May 22.
Related Topics:
