Appeal court probes baby death case

Feb 7 2013

A father convicted of shaking his baby daughter to death is to have his case sent back to the Appeal Court.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) said Faisal Younas may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.

Younas was jailed for six years in March 2008 for killing eight-month-old Alishba in September 2005.

She died at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill, Glasgow, two days after the alleged attack.

Younas, 40, of Pollokshields, Glasgow, was originally charged with murder but the charge was reduced to one of culpable homicide.

A jury found him guilty of the offence after a nine-week trial at the High Court in the city.

Younas, originally from Lahore in Pakistan, had denied the charge against him. He later lost a bid to overturn his conviction in 2011.

The SCCRC, which has been looking at the conviction, announced its decision to send the case back to the High Court, where it will be examined by appeal judges.

A statement, released via the Scottish Government, said: "The Commission has decided to refer Mr Younas's case to the High Court because it believes that he may have suffered a miscarriage of justice in his conviction."

The reasons behind the commission's decision have not been made public.