by It certainly pays to be extra cautious when it comes to the safety and health of your child. Unfortunately, one dad has learned this lesson the hard way.
When seven-month-old Lily Cosgrove fell from the couch, her mother, Emma, begged her husband to take their child to the hospital.
Evidently, Lily’s father was responsible for caring for the child while Emma was at work for the day. The father, Paul James Cosgrove, ended up falling asleep on the couch and when he woke, he discovered his daughter on the floor.
She had rolled off the couch during his nap. Following the discovery of his daughter on the floor, Paul left Lily with a neighbor instead of taking her to the hospital to get her injuries assessed.
He had claimed that he had a job interview and needed someone to care for the child, however; it was later discovered that he went for a massage and bought alcohol.
Later that day, when Cosgrove returned to his parenting duties, he left Lily unattended on the changing table while he walked away to throw a diaper in the trash. When he returned, the girl was lying on the floor, her eyes flickering as she made a “funny sound.” The father went about his business and instead of taking the child to the hospital, he took another nap.
After his nap, Paul discovered that Lily was failing to respond when he tried to wake her up. Following this alarming situation, he went on to take the baby to his mother-in-law’s house for a birthday party. Meanwhile, Paul had mentioned the girl’s fall and unresponsive condition to his wife on the phone and when Emma begged him to take her to the hospital he refused. Instead, he went back home.
At this point, Emma was alarmed and left work, rushing home to check on her daughter. She called an ambulance as soon as she got home, but unfortunately, it was too late. The girl had suffered a catastrophic brain injury and passed away at the hospital.
Following the death of his daughter, Paul was arrested and charged with his negligent role in the girl’s incident. Claiming that his judgement was impaired by depression and his lack of maturity, Paul’s defense attorney’s were hoping to get the negligent father off the hook.
Luckily, the judge didn’t buy the defense and Paul was sentenced to seven years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
The judge made the following statement in court:
“Lily was only seven months old, she was unable to protect herself from danger. Your first duty was to the child, not to yourself. It was morally and legally wrong not to seek treatment for her.”
The judge, along with the family, found that Paul’s act of remorse was fake and lacked genuine concern. Emma and her family are devastated by the incident, and they won’t be forgiving him anytime soon.
“I am so sorry to hear that her dad didn’t look after her and protect her like a real dad should,” said the grieving mother. “Lily was denied a life from her dad and now we can’t see her smile.”
