How Could You? Hall of Shame-UK-Shi-Anne (Keegan) Downer-Child Death UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Birmingham, UK, kinship foster mother Kandyce Downer, 35, “had been Keegan Downer’s (18 months old) legal guardian for eight months when she died as a result of “horrific” systematic abuse.”
She “has been jailed for life, with a minimum tariff of 18 years.”
“Shi-Anne Downer was removed from her biological mother, a heroin addict, days after her birth in March 2014.
She was looked after by an experienced foster carer, Jane Murray, who described her as a “sweet, placid little girl” before Downer – a distant relative – applied to care for the child.
The baby was placed in Downer’s care in January 2015. Downer changed Shi-Anne’s name to Keegan.
She died eight months later at Downer’s home in Weoley Castle, Birmingham, after months of abuse.
Downer, a mother-of-four, was a business student when she applied to care for Keegan.
Murray raised concerns with a social worker that Downer was primarily motivated by the £125.09 a week she would receive for Keegan’s care, after she cancelled a visit with her would-be foster daughter while she was awaiting a decision about funding.
At the time of Keegan’s death, Downer was in the process of divorcing her husband – a cousin of Keegan’s biological dad – and was pregnant by her married boyfriend.
It’s thought that Downer began abusing Keegan a few months into her care, when her relationship with her boyfriend ran into trouble.
The baby had suffered a “horrific” catalogue of between 150 and 200 untreated injuries, including broken ribs, leg fractures and injuries to her spine, face and neck.
She was in “excruciating pain,” consultant paediatrician Dr Ben Stanhope said in a written statement to the court.
He said that injuries to the baby’s lips were the “most severe” he had seen in more than 20 years in his profession.
A spiral leg fracture that had left Keegan with one leg shorter than the other, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Nigel Power, QC, told the court: “The fractures would have caused pain and would have been obvious to anyone around her.”
Keegan suffered a cardiac arrest and died from a combination of septicaemia, blunt chest trauma an old head injury and a bacterial infection.
On the morning of Saturday 5 September, eight months after baby Keegan was placed in her care, Kandyce Downer called 999 to report that Keegan wasn’t breathing.
Before Downer called to get help for the baby, she to drove to a nearby skip to dump the child’s bloodstained mattress.
She was captured on CCTV driving away from her home to dispose of the bed:
Downer was arrested at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where baby Keegan had been pronounced dead on arrival.
During her trial, Downer denied any knowledge of Keegan’s injuries and tried to blame them on her eldest son, who was 17 at the time.
She said that prioritising the dumping of Keegan’s mattress while the baby was lying “unwell” in her cot was down to “panic” because she feared she or her son would be blamed.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court took just over two and a half hours to convict Downer of murder.
Sentencing Downer to life with a minimum term of 18 years, Mrs Justice Frances Patterson said: “It is a horrible tale of callous conduct and at no stage have you showed any remorse.
“Why you changed from a loving mother to a brutal attacker of a defenceless child is a mystery.”
She said the baby had “flourished” before she was adopted by Downer.
Det Insp Harry Harrison said the case was the worst he had seen in 26 years on the force.
He called Downer’s actions “completely barbaric, inhuman and downright evil.”
- Keegan’s grandmother Elaine Downer
Elaine Downer never met her grandchild. She spoke of the loss she feels outside court
Referring to Keegan by her birth name Shi-Anne, Murray described the toddler’s murder is “devastating” in a victim impact statement read out to court.
Hearing of Shi-Anne’s death was shocking, unbelievably painful and has left me devastated.
She was a beautiful, happy and pleasant little girl. She was a joy.
It has left me questioning why I let her go, even though I know that is my job.
I can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt such a sweet, placid little girl.
- Child protection charity
The NSPCC said it “defied belief” that the abuse had happened at the hands of a woman who was entrusted with bringing up Keegan.
The organisation said in a statement: “This is the latest in a series of tragic cases of very young children killed by their parent or guardian. Everything possible must be done to prevent this from happening again.”
Birmingham City Council’s Children’s Services have been under scrutiny over the past eight years, following the preventable deaths of Khyra Ishaq and Keanu Williams, who were both known to social workers and who were both killed by their parents.
In 2013 the department was branded a “national disgrace” and in March 2014 Lord Warner was appointed independent commissioner tasked with overseeing improvements to services. He is currently undertaking a three-year review of the system.”
Kandyce Downer sentenced to life in prison for ‘barbaric’ murder of 18-month-old[ITV 5/4/16 ]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A CRISIS-hit children’s services department is overrun with work and cutting care to save money, a report found.
Birmingham city council’s operation relied on pricey agency cover while staff are up to five months behind investigating cases.
We told yesterday how a voluntary trust is to take over the department after a string of youngsters died.
They include 18-month-old Keegan Downer, who was battered to death by a foster mum staff handed her over to.
Now an undercover worker has told how they increasingly use Special Guardianship Orders, which allow vulnerable kids to be placed with a family member as it is cheaper than paying vetted professional foster carers.
The investigator, codenamed Vicky, also found cases are being classed as non-urgent to make target times easier to hit.
She reveals in Channel 4’s Dispatches how a toddler being sexually abused by a family member was only marked as “children in need”, which allows social workers 45 days to investigate.
Vicky added: “The decision making doesn’t make sense.
“We’re talking about a three-year-old girl being sexually abused.”
In another case, an abusive man reported for telling his pregnant partner he would kick the baby out of her was also given a 45-day response time.
A freedom of information request nationally revealed that 109 councils spent £500million in the past three years on children’s social workers from agencies, a figure which is rising.
Birmingham’s Children’s Services has been rocked by a number of deaths, including Khyra Ishaq, seven, who starved to death in 2008 despite repeated warnings she was at risk.
The council insisted it had “substantially changed” its guardianship policy and now “keeps the case open and offers support for six months”.
It insisted the orders are agreed by courts and “not driven by considerations around cost”.”
Birmingham kids’ care FIVE MONTHS behind investigating abuse cases [The Sun 5/25/16]
“The evil foster mum who murdered a toddler placed in her care was scarred by the violent death of her father, her half-brother has claimed.
Kandyce Downer, 35, killed 18-month-old Keegan Downer, less than a year after she was appointed her legal guardian.
The toddler’s fragile body bore 200 injuries and153 scars.
Now it has emerged that Downer’s own mother KILLED her father during a domestic argument.
Downer’s half-brother Richard believes that the mum-of-four was mentally scarred by the killing of her dad, Othman Ayoub, at the hands of her mum, Jean Dennis.
He claims the timebomb that was Downer’s fragile and fraught mental state finally exploded.
“She was a loving mother who became a monster,” Richard told the Sunday Mercury .
Downer was responsible for the sickening, systematic abuse of toddler Keegan .
Over a number of weeks, she beat the little girl – also known as Shi-Anne – with such force that the defenceless tot suffered broken legs and ribs, and endured severe head and spinal injuries.
The helpless child collapsed at the family’s Birmingham home last September – just months after Downer became her legal guardian.
Downer was this month found guilty of murder and will serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars.”
Foster mum who battered her baby to death was ‘born with a killer gene’ [ Mirror 5/29/16 by Mike Lockley]
Update 2: Kandyce found guilty!“Keegan Downer of the UK weighed just 8kg when she died. She was just 18 monts old and described as a ‘tot’.
Over 120 injuries were located on her body after her blood-stained mattress was dumped near a skip.
Injuries included broken ribs and thighbone, which left her with one leg shorter than the other.
She was also known as ‘Shi-Anne’.
Along with four other children, it is feared by police that the woman who took them in – Kandyce Downer (34) – merely wanted to collect on the state payments for fostering. She is being tried in court in Birmingham, UK.
But for this, Keegan lost her life due to an old head injury, blunt force trauma to the chest, septicemia and infection.
Kandyce never sought professional help for Keegan despite her having been in excruciating pain.
Downer was said to have been involved in a relationship with a married man which deteriorated, resulting in the abuse.
But can this justify the death of a child?”
Evil Foster Mom Guilty Of Battering 18-Month-Old Toddler To Death ‘Was Only After Extra Benefit Payments’ [Kami 11/27/16]
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