Courts

Man who murdered ‘utterly defenceless’ two-year-old sentenced to minimum of 20 years

Darryn John Armstrong initially blamed Ali Jayden Doyle’s one-year-old brother for causing fatal wound

Ali Jayden Doyle: killed by her mother's partner Darryn John Armstrong in 2021.
Ali Jayden Doyle: killed by her mother's partner Darryn John Armstrong in 2021.
Ashleigh McDonald
Thu Oct 24 2024 - 15:16

A 35-year-old man who murdered his partner’s “utterly defenceless” two-year old daughter has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 20 years at a hearing in Belfast.

Ali Jayden Doyle died from a severe head injury she sustained in Darryn John Armstrong’s house in the Park Avenue area of Dungannon, Co Tyrone on the morning of August 6th, 2021.

Armstrong had initially blamed the girl’s one-year old brother for causing the fatal wound by throwing a plastic toy at her, causing her to fall against a fireplace.

He subsequently admitted that he had thrown the child against the fireplace.

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He said he was under the influence of cannabis at the time, was “frustrated” and lost his temper. In a later interview, he claimed he had no memory of what happened due to his drug consumption.

Ali Jayden was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, where she was pronounced dead at 4.20pm. A subsequent postmortem concluded she sustained a severe head injury caused by impact against a solid surface.

As he sentenced Armstrong at a hearing in Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice McAlinden said he had not expressed any remorse or regret for the “brutal murder” of the child.

“We will never know what precisely occurred in the house that morning but it is clear beyond doubt that Darryn Armstrong took that child and inflicted horrifically severe head injuries on her,” the judge said. “The extend of the force required to cause those injuries to a two-year old child is entirely consistent with an intention to kill that child, to murder her.”

Mr Justice McAlinden added it was also clear that “this murder involved the deliberate infliction of a horrendous degree of violence to the head of a two-year old child, resulting in the catastrophic and plainly non-survivable injuries.”

He told Armstrong that the time he has already sent on remand will be taken into account when calculating the date when he is considered eligible for release by the Parole Commissioners.

Ali Jayden’s mother Jade Dempsey (28), whose address is the subject of a reporting restriction, was made the subject of a three-year Probation Order on a charge of wilfully neglecting and exposing her daughter in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health.

She was not present when her daughter was killed in Armstrong’s home as she was travelling to Belfast to buy a buggy. She had left her daughter and son in the care of Armstrong, who was her partner on an on and off basis.

This was in breach of a Child Protection Plan imposed by social services, which banned Armstrong from having contact with the children. He has 77 previous convictions, includes charges of domestic abuse and was the subject of a Probation Order when he murdered Ali Jayden.

The judge noted Dempsey spent a year on remand in Hydebank Women’s Prison following the death of her daughter, that she suffered traumas both in childhood and later in life, that she had experienced domestic abuse and that her four other children have all been taken into care. He also noted she is currently in a relationship with a man who has a history of both criminal offending and drug misuse.

Making her the subject of a three-year Probation Order, Mr Justice McAlinden said: ”The truth of the matter is that unless she is provided with these type of interventions ... there is every likelihood that she will continue to gravitate towards harmful relationships.

“However, next time round it will not be a child who will be exposed to the risk of violence as a result of her poor decision-making - it will be her.”