The man had been drinking all day before turning up at the house where his baby was sleeping
A father who dropped his four-and-a-half month old baby on the floor - fracturing her skull - after an all-day drinking session has avoided jail.
Swansea Crown Court heard the man had turned up at his former partner's house in the early hours of the morning after drinking 14 pints of beer and cider in the previous 12 hours.
She had initially refused to let him in, prosecutor John Hipkin said, before relenting so as not to antagonise the man.
He had then entered the property and picked up his sleeping baby.
However the infant then "wriggled" and slipped from his hands, falling to the wooden laminate floor and landing on her head, fracturing her skull.
The barrister said there was no suggestion from the prosecution that the injuries had been deliberately inflicted, but that the defendant had acted recklessly.
The court heard the defendant told police he had spent the day drinking had consumed 12 pints of lager and two pints of cider rating his level of intoxication as eight-out-of-ten.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the baby, had previously pleaded guilty to child cruelty when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The court heard the infant has since made a full recovery from the injury.
Georgina Buckley, for the defendant, said her client was "completely devastated" by the effects of what he had done, and had a "huge sense of remorse and regret".
She said: "This was a tragic accident — the defendant made a very serious error of judgement when he picked her up.
"His judgement would have been impaired by the amount of alcohol he had drunk."
The barrister said the events of the night had "shaken the defendant into action" and he was now seeking help to address his drinking problem.
She added the defendant had been candid with paramedics, doctors and the police about what had happened.
Recorder Richard Booth QC told the father it was accepted he had not intentionally harmed his child, and that "the crime lies in you choosing to pick up your baby, not realising the recklessness of your actions".
The defendant was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and a 25-day rehabilitation course.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/father-dropped-baby-daughter-floor-12171768
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