Man murdered six-year-old daughter by assaulting her as a baby

A “volatile” father has been found guilty of murdering his six-year-old daughter by assaulting her when she was a baby.

Kyle Kitchen, 38, either vigorously shook or hit Primrose Kane with a hard object when she was eight weeks old, the Old Bailey heard.

As a result of the attack in November 2014, she suffered serious brain injuries and a fractured skull which left her profoundly disabled and in constant pain, jurors were told.

She was placed into the care of her maternal grandmother and died in May 2021.

Kitchen was charged with Primrose’s murder while already serving an 18-year sentence for assaulting her.

A jury found him guilty of murder after deliberating for about six-and-a-half hours.

Previously, prosecution barrister Jennifer Knight KC described how Primrose had lived with Kitchen and her mother Kenzey Kane in a bedsit in Camden, north London.

The couple’s relationship was “frequently volatile” and Kitchen had been arrested and cautioned for assaulting his partner, Ms Knight added.

Jurors heard Kane had been holding her three-week-old daughter when Kitchen repeatedly slapped her face in a row over the baby crying.

Kenzey Kane was found guilty of causing or allowing serious injury to a child by failing to protect her daughter from Kitchen, and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in custody.

Primrose’s quality of life was said to be “very low” and in 2016 the severity of her condition led to the implementation of a do-not-resuscitate order, jurors heard.

She had cerebral palsy, feeding issues, an inability to communicate verbally and drug-resistant epilepsy.

She went to a special school in Plumstead, south-east London, from the age of nearly three until her death and was described by her headteacher as “characterful”, jurors were told.

The night she died, Primrose slept in a double bed with her grandmother as usual, the court was told.

Just before 05:00 BST Maria Kane woke and immediately noticed her granddaughter’s normally noisy and laboured breathing had stopped.

A post-mortem examination concluded Primrose’s death was the consequence of the traumatic head injury from when she was a baby.

Mr Justice Murray remanded Kitchen into custody to be sentenced on 2 April.