Baby had bruising and a fractured collar bone when brought to Cork hospital, trial hears

Olivia Kelleher

A paediatrician has told the trial of a man charged with seriously assaulting his five month old daughter that when the child was admitted to hospital doctors found she had suffered bruising to her face, chest, abdomen and right buttock, a fractured collar bone, blood on the surface of the brain and tearing of its connective fibres.

The 31-year-old accused is on trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded not guilty to three charges.

The man, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the child, previously entered a not guilty plea to a charge of causing serious harm to his five-month-old daughter on January 4th, 2021.

He also pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to his daughter on dates between November 25th and December 15th 2020, and with wilfully assaulting or ill-treating the child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the child’s health or seriously affect the child’s wellbeing.

Dr Rosina McGovern, who is a consultant paediatrician at Cork University Hospital, said that when the child was brought to hospital on the evening of January 4th 2021 she was “lethargic” and “drowsy.” Her parents told medical staff that their young daughter had been vomiting and wasn’t tolerating fluids.

It was noted that she “poor head control” and was “very quiet.” In addition to bruising an X-ray indicated that the baby had sustained a fractured collarbone, which was “healing.”

The child had bleeding in the eyes.

She said an MRI showed that the young girl had blood on the surface of her brain and tearing of the fibres of the brain. She said that the parents didn’t give an explanation for the injuries the child had sustained.

Dr McGovern said the child had a subdural haemorrhage which is associated with “abusive head trauma.”

She told Judge Dermot Sheehan and the jury that children under the age of six months rarely suffer from bruising arising out of their lack of mobility. The child was found to have “no underlying medical condition” to explain her injuries.

Dr McGovern stated that the fracture of the collarbone on such a young child was also “unusual” given her young age. Blood was found on the spine of the child from the top of the neck to the lower back.

She said that the child spent from January 4th to January 18th, 2021, in the hospital. The court heard that on January 5th, 2021, the child was found to have a score of nine out of fifteen on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

The scale is used to objectively describe the extent of impaired consciousness in all types of acute medical and trauma patients. Under cross-examination by defence barrister Ray Boland, SC, Dr Govern said that a score of nine means that a patient is “quite impaired in terms of a brain injury. She told the jury that a score of less than 8 generally involves the placing of a patient in intensive care.

Dr McGovern said that it was her belief that the child had sustained “serious harm.” Prosecution barrister Jane Hyland SC said that in Irish law serious harm is defined as an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, or causes serious disfigurement or substantial loss or impairment of mobility of the body or function of a bodily member or organ.

Meanwhile, the jury also heard evidence from crèche workers who said that they noticed that the child had bruising on her cheek and forehead. One crèche worker said that she rang her manager and, on her advice,e she documented what she had spotted and took photographs of the injuries.

She said that she noticed the bruising on the 15th of December 2020 when the child was dropped off wearing a festive elf outfit. She stated that she felt the bruising was “unusual” in such a young child.

She gave evidence that when she raised the matter with the mother of the child, she said that it was ‘nothing.” No explanation was furnished for the bruising with the crèche worker saying that the mother “brushed it off.”

Another worker present that day said that they noticed a bruise on both the left and right cheek of the child. She said that there was no accident or incident in the crèche involving the child, as it would have been documented.

The case will continue on Thursday in front of a jury of seven women and five men.