Grandfather who admitted killing grandson told gardaí he shook baby in attempt to calm him

David O'Sullivan

A man who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his infant grandson told gardaí he shook the baby in an attempt to calm him.

Chang Teng Wang (58) of Melville Rise, Finglas, Dublin 11, appeared before Judge Martina Baxter in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday.

Wang pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of his 10-month-old grandson, Séan, on August 15th, 2019.

Sergeant Siobhan Tolan told the court that shortly after midnight on August 13th, 2019, the child arrived at Temple Street Children's Hospital in cardiac arrest and accompanied by his parents.

Sergeant Tolan describes how, upon presentation to staff at the hospital, the child was “unresponsive.” He was immediately placed onto a ventilator and CPR was carried out “after which, a pulse was detected”.

She said staff “thought the baby had been choking” and that it was only after CT scans had been performed that the “gravity and nature of injuries” were recognised.

Pronounced dead

Séan was pronounced dead 66 hours after being admitted to the hospital. The gardaí were contacted and began an investigation.

The court heard that the child had been in the care of his grandfather before arriving at the hospital. His parents were out with friends at the time.

When they arrived home, they saw Séan was pale and unresponsive. They rushed him to hospital.

The parents thought the child could have fallen from a bed onto a wooden floor and become injured that way, but paediatricians said the symptoms they could identify were “unusual” in the context of what they had been told. An examination into the cause of death was therefore begun by doctors at the hospital.

The parents claimed some of the child's injuries could have been caused during their rapid drive to the hospital, and that the child might have hit his head against the roof. However, in subsequent tests by the gardaí, nothing was observed that could have caused the injuries this way.

Interview

In a Garda interview, Chang Teng Wang admitted vigorously shaking the baby, though he says this was done “in an attempt to calm him”.

Post-mortem examination showed this vigorous shaking resulted to head and neck trauma, ultimately leading to Séan's death.

Wang told gardaí he did not shake the baby to punish him, and that he did not know his actions could lead to the death of his grandson.

Sergeant Tolan said there was no evidence that Wang beat or punished the baby, and that what had happened was accidental or negligent on his behalf.

Wang had been minding his grandson for long periods in the 15 days leading up to the incident.

He said he struggled to deal with the child when he was upset, and how he “sometimes wanted to cry with the baby.” He arrived in Ireland from China with no English and is “entirely dependent on his son and son's partner.”

Judge Baxter adjourned the sentencing until November 6th pending the Director of Public Prosecution's view on sentence range. A plea of mitigation will be heard on that date.