A medical expert called to give evidence at a murder trial on Tuesday said a non-accidental brain injury sustained by a 13-week old baby was “one of the most severe” he has seen in ten years of practice
The paediatric neuroradiologist, who specialises in brain and spinal injuries in children, said it was his view that the injury sustained to Lewis Rowland in November 2015 was likely caused by “a forceful shaking episode.”
He also revealed that the brain injury was akin to being sustained in a road traffic accident or a fall from “an enormous height.”
Lewis was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital at around 1.30pm on November 20, 2015 by his parents Craig Rowland (29) and Laura Graham (31).
Whilst the pair, both with an address at Millington Park in Portadown, have admitted a charge of wilfully neglecting their son by failing to obtain timely medical treatment, Rowland has been charged with both the manslaughter and murder of his son, which he denies.
Lewis passed away aged three following complications arising from surgery on October 20, 2018, and it’s the Crown’s case that the catastrophic brain injuries he sustained in November 2015 played a significant role in his death.
During Tuesday’s sitting at Belfast Crown Court, the doctor said that in the aftermath of Lewis’s death he was asked to examine a number of image taken during both CT and MRI scans.
The jury heard him describe Lewis’s brain injury as “severe” and one caused by “traumatic force.”
Answering questioned posed by a Crown barrister, the doctor was asked about Lewis’s “level of functioning” after he suffered the injury.
When he was asked his opinion on how Lewis sustained the brain injury, the doctor said that after examining all the evidence including the level of bleeding on the brain and no swelling associated with an impact with a hard surface, it was his opinion it was likely to have been caused by a “forceful shaking injury.
Describing the level of injury caused by shaking as “one of the most severe” he has seen in his ten years of practice, the doctor determined it was sustained within a 24-hour period prior to Lewis being admitted to hospital.
The pediatric neuroradiologist was also questioned by a defence barrister representing Rowland, who asked if the term ‘non-accidental injury’ indicated an injury caused intentionally or deliberately.
The doctor replied “not it is not ... most of these types of cases and most of these types of injuries are sustained in a momentary loss of control ... and not a pre-meditated desire to inflict injury.”
After the doctor’s evidence concluded, the Crown barrister addressed both Mr Justice O’Hara and the jury and said the prosecution case was now concluded.