A MOTHER broke her baby girl’s skull and left the child with fractured ribs after shaking her to stop her crying.

The Newport mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had claimed the infant had rolled off a bed.

Jeffrey Jones, prosecuting, said the baby was taken to Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital for treatment following two assaults committed in the Blaenau Gwent area.

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He told Cardiff Crown Court the defendant’s claim that the child’s injuries were accidental “simply didn’t add up” when she was examined by doctors.

The woman, aged 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Peter Donnison, representing the mother, said his client was of previous good character with no convictions recorded against her.

“This has had a significant impact on her,” he told the court.

“She is deeply remorseful and troubled and upset by what happened.”

Judge David Wynn Morgan said: “This is a case of high culpability.

“This was a grave injury inflicted upon a child.”

But he added that “the injuries had not been caused deliberately”.

Judge Wynn Morgan told the woman: “You are a different person from the one that committed these offences.”

The defendant was jailed for two years but the sentence was suspended for two years.

She was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.