of the Supreme Court dock yesterday after being jailed for 14 years.

On January 24, a seven-man five-woman Supreme Court jury took an hour to convict him of the manslaughter of his two-year-old son D'shun Dill on December 14, 1994.

Yesterday during his sentencing, Puisne Judge Richard Ground said: "Anyone who heard the evidence of Dr. (Valerie) Rao and saw the post mortem pictures, could have no doubt that this child was beaten severely, and that you must have intended to hurt him.'' Dr. Rao, an American pathologist, testified during the two-week trial that the injuries D'shun Dill sustained were the worst case of child abuse she had seen in nearly 20 years.

She said the little boy died from blood loss and shock resulting from injuries caused by a blunt instrument.

An autopsy revealed a series of external injuries to his back, scars to his buttocks, plus bruising to his forehead, abdomen, ears, cheeks, groin and neck.

The child's injuries would have rendered him in extreme pain and he would have been unable to sit down.

Dr. Rao said: "He would have been vomiting and doubled over in pain.'' Mr.

Justice Ground told Darrell: "It is that you have to come to terms with, and with which I must deal.

"I do not think that there are any mitigating factors in this case, and I consider it a bad one.'' Earlier Crown Counsel Wilhelm Bourne said the appropriate range for a vicious case of manslaughter was ten to 12 years while Darrell's lawyer Mark Pettingill argued for a sentence of eight years.

But Mr. Justice Ground said he proposed to exceed the Crown's suggestion which he felt did not meet the requirements of the case.

`I think it is important for people who have the care of young children to realise that they should not oppress or abuse them, and that if they do, the law will visit such conduct with severity.

"In this respect I have taken into account that the evidence indicated a history of abuse and a pattern of injury.

"I think that that aspect takes this out of the normal run of manslaughter cases.'' He then sentenced Darrell to 14 years imprisonment with the time he had already spent in custody to be taken into account.

COURTS CTS CHILD CLD