The grandmother’s daughter tragically passed away weeks after giving birth to her miracle baby.
An Ayrshire grandmother, whose terrible daughter was left tortured and wounded by a horrible child abuser, hopes the man rots in prison.
The 56-year-old Kilmaurs grandmother has described the three years of torment she endured after saving her infant granddaughter.
The 38-year-old sick Mark Tannahill was found guilty last week in Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on two counts.
The baby suffered from shattered ribs and a cracked skull during the three months that the nasty monster terrorised him.
The little child, who will remain anonymous to preserve her privacy, was heartbroken when her mother passed away from cancer in August 2021, just eight weeks after giving birth.
Doctors discovered a 20 cm tumour in the 34-year-old mother, who was only 30 weeks along when she was given the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
She heroically battled the deadly cancer, but eight weeks after giving birth to her miraculous baby girl, she tragically passed away. She had given birth prematurely at 34 weeks.
Tannahill was occasionally left alone with the infant, but the grandmother sensed a problem.
She also described how, during the mother’s funeral, the little granddaughter’s face was covered in bruises from the brute’s blows to her before her daughter was even buried.
The unidentified grandmother of two said to Ayrshire Live, “I hope he’s locked away for a very long time.”
“He is a true monster. We have endured two and a half years of torment because of him.
It sickens me to think that my granddaughter was tortured during her first few weeks of existence by that evil man.
“I just started bawling when the verdict was announced. My acquaintance, who is a family friend, was there the entire time we were together.
“The fact that it was all over was just a relief. Finally, the three-year-old cloud over our heads was lifted.
The grandmother has described how, when her dying daughter was fighting illness in the hospital, she first became aware of maltreatment.
She remembers the humiliated Tannahill telling the sobbing infant to “shut the f*** up.” The gardener at the time also heard this.
“I was just horrified,” she remarked as she and her other grandchild sat there.
At that moment, my daughter was near death.
“On Monday, she was returning home for final care.” Additionally, he was yelling at the infant to “shut the f*** up.”
“I simply offered to assist him with the small child.
“Mark, I know you’re stressed, but you can’t do that,” I murmured.
“We provided him with a lot of support because we all knew it was a trying moment for him.
The grandmother, a healthcare professional, saw that her grandchild was beginning to bruise and sought help.
She boldly brought the hurt child to the hospital, where the kid was seen by social workers and the doctors, who were immediately disturbed immediately put into the grandmother’s care.
The grandmother added: “I kept seeing bruises on the wee one.
“She had bruises on her face the day of my daughter’s funeral, when she was 10 weeks old.
“But Mark said it was because she was having ‘tummy time’ and that the dummy had pressed into her face.
“I work in healthcare and I said to some of my colleagues, they advised me right away to get it checked out.
“I had to do it discreetly. The minute I took her in, the doctors knew.
“They ran tests and found she had two fractures to the skull and bruising to the brain.
“I felt so guilty, at one point I thought she might just have a blood disorder. I didn’t want it to be true, but my gut telling me there was something far wrong.
“Mark always denied it, he said he would hold her so tight and that he didn’t know his own strength.
“She was a premature baby and just so delicate.
“If it wasn’t for myself intervening, the wee one wouldn’t be here.”
The grandmother says the conclusion of the trial was justice for her daughter who always wanted to be a mum.
The toddler, who is set to turn three later this year, is happy and doing well.
She said: “This is justice for my daughter who fought so hard to be here for her baby.
“It’s been horrific fighting this case and praying for justice.
“The jury found him guilty the day after Mother’s Day. That was the best Mother’s Day present I could have ever asked for.
“My daughter was always desperate to be a mum and she tried desperately to fight her cancer.
Tannahill was found guilty of continuously yelling and swearing at the infant, as well as acting in an abusive or threatening manner that was likely to induce fear or alarm in a reasonable person.
He was also found guilty of assaulting the infant; it was decided that he had “compressed and shaken her” and caused trauma to her head and body, causing serious injuries and putting her life in jeopardy.
Next month, Tannahill will be given a sentence at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
