A man who dropped his seven-month-old son out of a second-storey window escaped jail after a judge gave him a nine- month suspended sentence yesterday.

Anthony Davis, 33, will also have to serve two years’ probation.

Davis told the court that his actions were “unconscionable” and that he had committed to working on his personal problems.

He said: “I don’t believe myself to be an evil man. A man once burdened with troubles and now diligently working through them, but not an evil man.”

The court heard that the incident happened on July 2 last year, the same day Davis’s son was baptised.

After the ceremony, family and friends went to the home of the baby’s mother for a celebration.

Davis, of Hamilton Parish, drank heavily throughout the evening and became “unbearable”.

He was asked to leave the party, but refused and an argument broke out.

Davis picked up his son from a baby seat as he argued with the child’s mother and refused to hand the child over.

He said: “I’m tired. I’m done with you, I’m done with this. Nothing I do is ever good enough.”

Davis carried his son into a bedroom while the child’s uncle tried to get him to hand over the baby, but Davis dropped the child out of the second-storey window as the row continued.

The baby landed on the grass below and escaped with soft tissue injuries to his face and hip.

Davis then fell out of the window and landed on a nearby paved area.

The child’s mother said in a victim impact statement that the incident was “surreal and devastating”.

She added: “The memory of this incident will for ever be etched in the mind of those affected.”

She asked the court for leniency and said she hoped that Davis would continue to recover from his personal problems.

Cindy Clarke, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “While the feelings of the complainant must be taken into account, what we cannot forget is a seven-month-old was injured by this defendant.

“The fact that the baby was not more seriously injured was not because of the actions of this defendant.”

Ms Clarke said Davis had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty.

She suggested a suspended sentence and a long period of probation.

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said her client had dropped rather than thrown the baby out of the window.

She added Davis accepted full responsibility for what happened.

Ms Christopher said: “Its an incident he does not have personal recollection of, but that does not diminish his responsibility.

“He was intoxicated and he exposed the baby to risk. The reality is he takes all responsibility for what happened.

“At the end of the day, he accepts the consequences of his behaviour. He lost his job, but he has used the intervening period to reconstruct his life.”

Ms Christopher said that since the incident, Davis has volunteered for treatment for alcohol problems and past trauma.

She added: “The conviction won’t assist him with doing any more than he is already doing.”

Davis fought back tears and told the court he had been humbled and changed by what he had done.

He said: “My actions on that day were unconscionable. Those who have seen me with my children know how loving and devoted I am to them. The thought of me trying to harm one child is unfathomable to me.”

Davis added a message to his baby son.

He said: “It’s my desire that when the time comes for him to learn about what happened, that he is unable to reconcile the father he knows and loves as the man who did this to him.”

Acting Chief Justice Charles-Etta Simmons said the child’s physical injuries were minor, but Davis’s actions had horrified the child’s mother.

She added: “She has been more forgiving than anyone could possibly ask her to be.”

Ms Justice Simmons ruled out a conditional discharge and imposed a suspended sentence.

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