Father jailed for 'vigorously' shaking baby son to death

A father who killed his six-week-old baby son by "vigorously" shaking him has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years, Scotland Yard said.

Pedro Rubim, 43, was found guilty of Alejandro Rubim's manslaughter at central London's Blackfriars Crown Court on Wednesday after a trial.

The court heard he caused fatal injuries to his son while Alejandro's mother, nanny Maribel Rodriguez, 40, was visiting the dentist.

He called paramedics to the family home in Hampstead, north-west London, on the morning of February 20 2016, but the child died in hospital four days later.

Alejandro had suffered "serious head and eye injuries" consistent with what is often called "a shaken baby", jurors were told.

Rubim, who worked as an administration assistant for financial firm Global Asset Management, told his partner, police and medics the baby fell from his bouncer on a sofa bed while his back was turned.

But, during the trial, police said he admitted he had "shaken" his baby twice - first gently, then more vigorously when he found him collapsed on the floor, in an attempt to revive his son.

Speaking after Rubim was sentenced to jail for eight-and-a-half years on Wednesday, Detective Constable David West, from the Metropolitan Police, said: "Alejandro should have been safe with his father, whose duty it was to love and protect his child.

"Pedro failed in that duty, his actions directly resulted in the death of Alejandro, a fact he will have to come to terms with and reconcile as time passes by.

"This has been a heart-breaking case for the rest of Alejandro's family, who are still struggling to come to terms with his loss."