Hi,

I think I missed posting this one up. interesting that she got 3 years and they managed to get her out in 7 months. Which is thankfully less than we have to wiat to get to the next stage, but its been long enough now, for all concerned. 

Anyway here its is. From the Times of course, who seem to have their fingers on the pulse with these cases. Shame I haven’t been as observant!

Jailed nanny Jasmin Schmidt cleared of injuring baby

Court of Appeal rules that convictions for causing grievous bodily harm to ten-week-old child were unsafe

Helen Nugent

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A nanny who was jailed for seriously injuring a baby has had her name cleared by the Court of Appeal.

Jasmin Schmidt, from Germany, was sentenced to three years in prison last September and served seven months. She had been found guilty of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm.

During the trial, the jury at the Old Bailey was told that Ms Schmidt, 33, who had previously worked for a pop star and other celebrities, had lost her temper with the ten-week-old child during a restless night and shook him violently. Ms Schmidt, a qualified paediatric nurse from Bonn, had been hired to look after the child while his parents, who cannot be named, attended a London Fashion Week event in 2002.

Last week three Court of Appeal judges ruled that Ms Schmidt’s convictions were unsafe. This judgment can only be reported nnow after a ruling that she should not face a retrial.

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Ms Schmidt’s barrister, Diana Ellis, QC, had argued that problems in the way that the case had been summed up to the jury rendered the convictions unsafe. The appeal was allowed and the convictions quashed by Lord Justice Scott Baker, Mr Justice Mackay and Mr Justice Beatson. The case was adjourned until this week.

Yesterday, lawyers for the prosecution applied for the case to be heard again by another jury, but the application was rejected by the court.

“We have considered carefully the arguments both ways, but we come to the clear conclusion that it would not be in the interests of justice for there to be a retrial in this case,” Lord Justice Scott Baker said.

It was alleged at last year’s trial that the baby’s parents, who run a shop in North Yorkshire, had found him whimpering in his cot after Ms Schmidt’s third night working for the family. He was taken to hospital suffering from a fractured elbow and brain injuries, but made a full recovery after a long period in a critical state.

Giving evidence, the child’s mother said: “I could tell his body was feeling a little bit more limp. I could tell he was very poorly.” When she telephoned Ms Schmidt, the nanny claimed that the baby could be suffering from a bug.

Lets hope that the message is getting through to those that need to listen, you do need to protect children form abuse of course you do (and better than you have been) but also you DO NOT need to go off on witch hunts to make up for the numerous cock ups.

Lets sit down shall we and calmly look at what goes wrong and how we can sort it out.

Whoever is in power…