Morsal Mohammed Naim, aged 33, of Levenshulme, Greater Manchester, will not have her nine-year prison sentence increased after three Court of Appeal judges ruled that the penalty was not unduly lenient.
Naim appeared before Manchester Crown Court in February, where she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and child cruelty following the death of her daughter, two-year-old Omra Wali Jan.
Emergency services were dispatched to the family residence in Levenshulme on 30 November 2023 following reports of an unresponsive toddler.
Upon arrival, Naim told paramedics that the child had choked on a biscuit.
Prior to entering her guilty pleas, Naim altered her account, claiming the toddler had choked, fallen against a baby bouncer, and sustained fatal trauma when Naim shook her in an effort to resuscitate her.
Post-mortem examinations and pediatric assessments determined that Omra had suffered a catastrophic brain injury caused by violent shaking.
Medical specialists identified numerous non-accidental injuries indicative of sustained abuse over time, including deep burns inflicted by the heated metal casing of a cigarette lighter, multiple contusions, and a fractured rib.
The court was told that Naim and her husband, Firooz Wali Jan, had relocated to the United Kingdom from Afghanistan in 2021.
Omra had never been registered with a general practitioner, and no medical attention had been sought for her previous injuries.
The child’s father, Firooz Wali Jan, aged 32, was sentenced to six years and nine months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to child cruelty, having been absent from the home when the fatal shaking occurred.
Following sentencing, the Attorney General referred Naim’s nine-year custodial term to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, submitting that the sentencing judge failed to sufficiently increase the overall sentence to account for the child cruelty conviction.
Delivering the judgment, Lord Justice Bean, sitting alongside two senior judges, remarked that the appellate panel would have imposed a longer term had they tried the case, but confirmed the original sentence did not fall outside the reasonable range open to the sentencing judge in exceptional circumstances.
The court dismissed the application, declining to alter the nine-year sentence.
It was also confirmed that Naim will not be deported to Afghanistan upon the conclusion of her sentence.
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing standard determinate sentences under seven years for non-violent offences or sentences not subject to mandatory two-thirds provisions, Naim is entitled to statutory release on licence at the halfway mark. She is required to serve one-half (four years and six months / 54 months) of her nine-year sentence in prison custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder under the supervision of the Probation Service in the community.
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