A CO Armagh man repeatedly denied causing “catastrophic brain injuries” to his infant son during police interviews.
The jury sitting on the trial at Belfast Crown Court of Craig Rowland on Tuesday listened to details of interviews conducted with the suspect following the baby’s admission to hospital in November 2015.
Rowland (29), denies murdering his son Lewis Rowland and further denies the manslaughter of his son.
He and the child’s mother Laura Graham (31), of Millington Park, Portadown, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully neglecting their son.
Lewis passed away three years later in October 2018 following complications arising from surgery.
It is the Crown’s case that the life changing injuries he sustained in November 2015 when he was 13 weeks-old played a significant role in his death.
The court heard when Rowland was arrested for causing grievous bodily harm with intent to his son and after caution he replied: “For what?”
Prosecution barrister Natalie Pinkerton said Rowland was transferred to Dungannon PSNI station and during his processing he told the custody sergeant: “You have no evidence.”
During the police interviews, Rowland said that a few days after a midwife had called to check on their son’s weight, Lewis had a “seizure in his Moses basket.”
“Me and Laura (seen him having the seizure) because we both went to talk to him. We were watching TV and he was in his Moses basket. He was watching TV in his wee rocky thing, he dozed off and he was put into his cot,” Rowland told detectives.
He said that about five or ten minutes later Lewis started “flicking his hands and legs about, a stiff movement, and his eyes started to roll back upwards”. He said the seizure lasted for only one or two minutes.
“He was moaning, whinging, heavy moaning. His breathing was fine. We left him for a minute and tried to calm him down and go ‘ssh’ and then he just stopped. We picked him up and he was fine the rest of the day.
“I can’t remember which of us lifted him and were rocking him and he was fine.”
The suspect said that Lewis woke in the middle of the night for a feed and “it was more Laura would do it. He is never alone with me. He was always with Laura or with me and Laura.”
He said that on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, two days before Lewis was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital, Rowland started “misbehaving and crying.”
Following a number of ‘no comment’ answers, he added: “I am just sick and tired of going over and over and over and over. I am frustrated now.”
Rowland said that on Thursday November 19, 2015, Lewis “started to get worse. He just got more angry and more upset. I lifted him and rocked him in my arms. His head was on my arm and my hand was under his back like a cradle rock. Laura did exactly the same.”
He told detectives that Laura told him Lewis had a high temperature and they started giving him Calpol but it didn’t help and they went for a walk.
He said that after they returned home, Lewis “started to get worse, he would then stop, then start, then stop, and he fell asleep in the morning time.
“When I woke up the next morning he was still moaning, whinging and kicking so we just decided to take him straight up to the hospital.”
Asked about the brain injury Rowland replied: “They can think all they want. Get to the point. Have we harmed him? No we have not. I am not going to hurt him at all. We wouldn’t harm him.
“He has never been dropped on his head. He has never had a knock to his head.”
Asked if Laura had shaken Lewis, Rowland replied: “Me and Laura have never hurt him, never touched him, never done anything to that wee man.
“You can try to put the force on us all you want...He has always been by Laura’s side.’’
In a further interview, a detective put it to Rowland: “Why did you cause catastrophic brain damage to your son Lewis?”
Rowland replied: “No comment. I told the truth in my last interview. No comment.”
At hearing.