Dad In Court

by pkt_drfc Tue 22 Jun - 22:18:08

For smashing a babys head.

The new dad, aged 23, smashed his baby boy's head against the wall the first time he was left alone with him, a jury at Sheffield Crown Court heard.

The tot survived a fractured skull and severe internal bleeding, but was left with permanent brain
damage

Bryan Cox, prosecuting, said: "This was not a momentary loss of temper - it was a considered, planned attack on a defenceless baby whose arrival was inconvenient to the defendant."

The dad, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

The court heard the man, from the Doncaster area, posed as a 17-year-old on the internet at the start of 2009, and befriended a 16-year-old girl who lived a few miles away

He slept with the teenager the first time he met her and they had a "fling" that lasted a few weeks.

But when she gave birth in November 2009 he feared he would lose his girlfriend of 18 months, who knew nothing of the affair.

Mr Cox said: "The baby's arrival posed a substantial threat to the defendant's future plans.

"He was in a relationship with a girl who was not the child's mother and was concerned about the financial implications of having a baby and the impact the boy's arrival would have on his future plans with his girlfriend.

"The prosecution says he tried to solve his problem by killing the baby.

"He contrived an opportunity to do so by arranging a visit."

Mr Cox said when the dad visited his son in January 2010 he "engineered" a few moments alone with him by asking the mum to get him a drink.

He then smashed the infant's head against the wall, leaving him with a fractured skull and a bleeding brain.

The youngster was rushed to Doncaster Royal Infirmary with a swelling the size of an adult's fist on the side of the head.

A consultant who treated the baby at a specialist unit in Nottingham said the head injuries were the most serious he had ever seen.

Scans found four separate injuries to his head and a bruised spine where an adult hand had gripped the baby's body "with great force".

The court heard blood found on the bedroom wall was consistent with "impact stains".

When the man was arrested he told police he dropped the baby as he handed him over to the mother on the stairs.

He claimed the baby was being abused and he had been "set up".

He told police he had not told his girlfriend about the baby and "believed she would finish with him if she found out".

But he insisted he planned to tell her a few days after the visit.

The mum, now 17, told police she had caught her son on the stairs and
he never hit the step.

In a recording of a police interview played to the jury she said: "The baby went blue and floppy. I screamed at him: 'What's happened? What have you done?'

"He didn't respond and looked calm. He just walked downstairs and didn't say anything."

Mr Cox said: "The prosecution say there was no tumble. These injuries were inflicted in the bedroom during a few moments when for the first time the defendant was left alone with the boy."

The trial continues.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Dad-smashed-baby39s-head-against.6375559.jp