Updated picture – Released and living in Bicester September 2008 Baby left with brain damage A father who shook his baby daughter so hard he left her permanently brain damaged, blind, paralysed and unable to talk or feed herself has been jailed for six years. Gary Johnson “lost it” after he was woken by his eight-week-old daughter Nicole screaming — and shook her to the point she was left unable to see or walk. At Oxford Crown Court, Johnson, 21, of Bicester, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The jury heard medical evidence the shaking was so violent it made Nicole’s brain twist. As the jury returned its verdict, Nicole’s mother wept in the public gallery. Johnson was living with Jacquie and her mother at their home in Ambrosden at the time. Jailing Johnson for six years and banning him from working with children for life, Recorder Harold Persaud said: “This is a very tragic case indeed. It is one of the most serious assaults that could have occurred to a young baby and it has resulted in profound disabilities. “It seems it was a momentary loss of control.” Johnson was cleared of causing cruelty to a child. John Price, prosecuting, said Nicole now had cerebral palsy. Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Deborah Garrett said: “This is a case where a healthy, lively eight-week-old baby girl has suffered at the hands of her father with such injuries she will be unlikely to walk, talk and see in the future, with no prospect of an independent life. “The defendant had attempted to portray himself as a concerned parent but having inflicted the injuries on his baby daughter, he failed to seek any medical attention, failed to inform the mother of the child that she was suffering and was more concerned on leaving the family home to drink with his friends. “Not once during his lengthy interviews did he show any concern for Nicole.” Det Sgt Dave Smith, of Thames Valley Police, said it was the first such case he had heard of in Oxfordshire during his five years in the child abuse investigation team. He said: “I am pleased the jury saw through his web of lies. “He viciously and cowardly shook his eight-week-old baby until she was brain damaged, probably in a fit of rage, and knowing she was seriously injured did nothing to help her.”