Family Judge Uncovers Truth behind Baby Boy’s Brain Injuries

31/05/2018


When children are injured in mysterious circumstances, it frequently falls to family judges to investigate and find out where the truth lies. In one such case, a judge found that serious brain injuries suffered by a three-month old boy were caused by his father anxiously shaking him in a bid to revive him following a choking fit.

The father and his child were alone together – the mother had gone to work – when he dialled 999 and reported that the boy had stopped breathing. He was desperately ill on arrival at hospital by ambulance and there were fears that he would not pull through. His sight had been damaged and that, together with other significant disabilities, meant that he faced an uncertain future. After the local authority launched care proceedings, the judge conducted a fact-finding hearing.

Lawyers representing the council argued that it was a straightforward case of an inexperienced father struggling with a crying baby who shook him in anger during a momentary loss of control. However, the father’s legal team submitted that the boy had collapsed spontaneously due to an underlying medical condition and that the father had innocently shaken him in an attempt to bring him round.

After reviewing expert and lay evidence during a lengthy hearing, the judge noted that the father was a man of blameless character who had impressed all those professionals with whom he had contact. The judge found that the baby had choked and struggled to breathe due to the way in which he was being fed and, although the father may have overreacted, he had shaken the boy in an anxious attempt to help him. The council had failed to prove that he inflicted the injuries in a moment of anger. The ruling was likely to have a critical impact on the outcome of the care proceedings.

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