A north Antrim couple have gone on trial accused of inflicting multiple fractures to an infant who was close to death.
The Newry Crown Court jury heard that when the “very young child” was admitted to the Royal Belfast Hospital, doctors found he had sustained a fractured skull, associated bleeding on his brain and retinas, a laceration to his liver, almost 30 fractures to his ribs and two fractures to each of his legs.
On trial jointly charged with four offences are 35-year-old Amanda Fulton and her husband Christopher (35) and the couple, from Rockfield Gardens in Mosside near Ballymoney, are accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, causing or allowing the child to suffer significant physical harm and a charge of child cruelty in that they allegedly wilfully neglected the child in a manner likely to cause him suffering, alleged to have been committed on dates between 5 - 8 November 2019.
The couple face a further allegation of child cruelty but this final charge is alleged to have been committed between 17 October and 2 November.
Opening the trial prosecuting KC Toby Hedworth told the jury the Crown case is that the child was subjected to significant blunt force trauma.
Turning to the background of the case, Mr Hepworth told the jury and Judge Irvine how Mr Fulton rang his GP surgery just after 1pm on 7 November to report how the infant “had a raw throat and was not drinking his bottles.”
They saw the doctor at 4.10pm and when the GP noted the child was not responding to physical stimuli and his pupils were not reacting the way they should, the court heard “the doctor suspected a possibly serious head injury” and contacted 999.
The jury heard that initially, the child was taken to the Causeway Hospital but when doctors there discovered that he had a fractured skull and bleeding onto his brain, the child was transferred to the intensive care unit at the children’s hospital in Belfast.
Surgeons removed part of his skull in order to relieve the pressure and the jury heard that “he was deemed to be gravely unwell and there was a fear that he would not survive.”
The pair told the nurses and detectives the child had been “fidgeting” through the night, but by 10am when he next woke, the infant “appeared sleepy” so they contacted the GP.
They claimed that around 10am “he looked completely different” and they “knew there was something badly wrong” .
Claiming that it was clear the defendants were “telling lies” about how the little boy was injured, the barrister told the jury the prosecution believe the child was injured “at some stage” between his midnight feed and the morning time.
With the defendants each accepting they “were never far away,” he submitted to the jury that one of them must have inflicted the injuries.
It is the prosecution case, he told the jury, that the child was deliberately struck or impacted on a hard surface and that “in the absences of any explanation put forward by the defendants, it is our case the injuries were caused either by direct blow or by significant compression.”
At hearing.