Sarah Ngaba, 32, was today jailed for life after she admitted causing 'dreadful, life-shortening and life-limiting' head injuries to Eliza Ngaba and was convicted of her murder13:00, 12 Jun 2026Updated 13:10, 12 Jun 2026A mum has been jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years after she murdered her seven-week-old daughter.‌Sarah Ngaba, 32, fractured the infant’s skull and then stopped to buy a lottery ticket before taking her to hospital.‌Ngaba accepted that she caused “dreadful, life-shortening and life-limiting” head injuries to Eliza Ngaba, but denied murder, claiming she was instead guilty of infanticide. But in May a jury at Birmingham Crown Court found her guilty of Eliza’s murder.‌At the sentencing hearing today Trial judge Mrs Justice Brunner KC sentenced Ngaba to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years and 154 days. The judge described the killing as “the culmination of increasingly hostile behaviour” towards the infant.Ngaba, formerly of Briarwood in Brookside, Telford, Shropshire, was previously convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to her child, who was left profoundly disabled by the assault in November 2019.‌Ngaba was charged with murder after London-born Eliza died aged two in August 2022 from a respiratory infection, having been left vulnerable by the assault.Sentencing Ngaba, Mrs Justice Brunner praised the dedication of Eliza’s “remarkable” foster parents, Laura and Gary Haynes.Having heard a statement from the foster parents saying they loved Eliza dearly and missed her “bright and sunny nature” every day, the judge said: “Theirs was a stable and caring household and they clearly brought much love and happiness into her life.”‌Turning to Ngaba in the dock, the judge criticised her for booking a taxi to take Eliza to hospital, delaying medical help and failing to maximise her daughter’s chances of effective treatment.Ruling that Eliza’s head was likely to have been struck against a wall, the judge told Ngaba: “The distribution of injuries shows this was not a momentary attack.‌“The trigger for you losing your temper is not clear. The result of that assault was immediately catastrophic.“It would have been obvious to you straight away that Eliza had serious injuries but you continued to act in a callous way.“You deliberately delayed and you deliberately concealed Eliza’s terrible state. Instead you put your interests above hers.”‌The judge said it was an unusual feature of the case that Ngaba had already served six years and 211 days of her 14-year sentence for wounding, meaning that time period should be subtracted from a minimum term that would have been 19 years.Gordon Aspden KC, addressing the court in mitigation, said Ngaba had joined the Anglican community while serving at HMP Foston Hall in Derbyshire, where the chaplain described her as a model prisoner and “never violent”.Mr Aspden told the judge: “It’s difficult to imagine a more melancholy and tragic case than this for so many people, not least the victim.‌“We would invite the court to pass the least possible minimum term.”In submissions prior to sentence, prosecutor Lisa Hancox said: “The medical evidence in this case shows that Eliza’s injuries were caused by two distinct and different mechanisms – that is shaking and impact.“Clearly the attack was prolonged.”Article continues belowNgaba had shown growing hostility towards Eliza prior to the attack, Ms Hancox said, adding that her reaction to the infant’s collapse had been “callous and uncaring”.She added: “The prosecution case is that Eliza died as a result of a violent assault inflicted by her mother during what can properly be described as a loss of control amounting to a fit of rage. It was a sustained and aggressive assault upon a defenceless infant.”