Matthew Scully-Hicks, a fitness instructor from the UK, has been found guilty of murdering his 18-month-old adopted daughter, Elsie, just two-weeks after he and his husband adopted her.
The prosecution stated that before her death, Elsie was shaken and had apparently had her head slammed against a hard surface after Matthew Scully-Hicks reportedly lost his temper.
Scully-Hicks vehemently denied the charges throughout court proceedings.
Matthew Scully-Hicks
The jury was also told that Scully-Hicks had been complaining about his daughter to his husband via text message and once wrote he was ready to explode. Tragically, it also seems that Elsie was abused in the months leading up to her death after being treated in hospital for various bruises and broken bones.
Elsie was removed from her birth mother almost immediately after she was born.
Matthew Scully-Hicks also had another adopted child with his husband, but Elsie was the primary victim for his frustrations.
Courts heard that Elsie was slow to develop, leading to Matthew Scully-Hicks to label her “Satan dressed in a babygrow”, “psycho” and even “monster” in text messages to his husband.
In mid-May 2016, Mathew Scully-Hicks called emergency services panicking because his baby had collapsed. When paramedics arrived at Scully-Hicks Cardiff home, Elsie was no longer breathing. The baby died from her injuries and a resulting cardiac arrest four days after being admitted to hospital.
Social workers are investigating why incidents of abuse were not reported before Elsie’s death.
