WARNING: Content may be distressing
Christchurch man Michael John Topp has been jailed for a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for the murder of his three-month-old baby daughter.
Justice Anne Hinton sentenced Topp, 37, in the High Court at Christchurch on Tuesday morning, the New Zealand Herald reported.
At his trial in May, Topp admitted he caused the injuries that killed the three-month-old - but denied the charge of murder.
He said the baby’s death was a case of manslaughter as while he harmed her he never intended to kill her, the Herald reported.
After several weeks of evidence, the jury found Topp guilty of murder and two charges of deliberately injuring the baby. He was acquitted on the fourth charge.
The infant, who has permanent name suppression, was rushed to hospital with a severe head injury on December 30, 2022, but died two days later.
The baby’s mother read out her victim impact statement in court today, the Herald reported.
"No sentence given today will ever be enough,” she told the packed courtroom.
"Mike has given [my baby] a death sentence. He has given me and her loved ones a lifelong sentence of pain and pining about what should have been.
“I may never get closure... ultimately, he took the biggest thing he could have from me - my only child, my innocent daughter.
“He took the most special part of me.”
A photograph of the little girl was shown on screens around the courtroom as she read, the Herald reported.
“No sentence will either heal the wounds Mike has inflicted on me or take back pain that [my daughter] endured until her heart gave out,” she said.
“Nothing will ever make up for what he did... and every time Mike behaves like a coward and continues to claim his innocence, it just makes a mockery of the life he ended.
“Mike has shown no emotion other than annoyance and self-pity.
“Do I feel relieved for him being found guilty? No. I feel grateful that he can’t harm others for an enforced period of time.
“Mike - I will never forgive you.”
