Fitness instructor who murdered his 18-month-old adopted daughter is jailed for life
A father who murdered his daughter just two weeks after formally adopting her has been handed a life sentence.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, must serve a minimum of 18 years after violently shaking 18-month-old Elsie Scully-Hicks and striking her head at their home in Llandaff, Cardiff, in May 2016.
He described the toddler as “a psycho”, “the exorcist” and “Satan dressed up in a Baby grow” in text messages to friends and family members.
Cardiff Crown Court heard he struggled to cope with being the primary carer for Elsie as his husband, Craig Scully-Hicks, 36, worked full-time.
Scully-Hicks denied murder but a jury unanimously convicted him of the charge on Monday following a four-week trial at Cardiff Crown Court.
Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Davies said: “Elsie was aged just 18 months when you killed her, a young, vulnerable and defenceless child.
“She had been entrusted to the care of yourself and your husband, Craig Scully-Hicks, her adoptive fathers.
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“Shortly before 18.19pm on May 25 2016 you inflicted injuries of such severity upon Elsie as to cause her immediate collapse and her death on May 29.
“The injuries were sustained when you gripped Elsie around the chest, your fingers were on her back exerting pressure which fractured her ribs.
“The fracture to the skull was caused by an impact with a hard surface. Her collapse would have swiftly followed, that having occurred you called the emergency services.”
The judge said Scully-Hicks’s case was aggravated by Elsie’s vulnerability due to her age and an abuse of a position of trust and told him that he had shown no remorse for his crime.
She said Elsie’s fatal injuries were inflicted between meal time and bed time – a time when Elsie was known to cry.
The judge went on: ”The force which you used in gripping Elsie was sufficient to cause the fractures of the ribs, the shaking sufficient to cause severe brain and eye injury.
“In deliberately inflicting serious injuries upon your 18-month-old adoptive daughter you abused the trust which had been placed in you as Elsie’s adoptive father. It was a gross abuse of that trust.
“It was an abuse of the responsibility which had been placed upon you as her adoptive father to protect and care for this young, vulnerable and defenceless child.
“Your actions in killing Elsie have devastated three families – the birth family of Elsie, the family you had sought to build with Craig Scully-Hicks and your own birth family.”
Scully-Hicks showed no emotion as he was told he would spend a minimum of 18 years in prison.
People sitting in the public gallery were crying as the sentence was handed out.
