Grandmother of baby in Cork child cruelty trial said infant ‘did not look well at all’

The grandmother of the six-month-old baby girl at the centre of a child cruelty trial said the infant was making a strange noise from her throat, and her eyes were dazed on the first day that the baby’s mother returned to work.

The witness arrived at her daughter’s home that day to see the baby, who was on her father’s knee.

“I went straight over to her, and she did not look well at all,” she testified. “She appeared to be lethargic. She was making a strange noise in her throat. Her eyes were quite dazed. She just did not look right to me.

The witness said the child’s father said to his partner that the child had vomited a couple of times and he had to change his clothes. The grandmother asked the defendant if he had given the infant Calpol and he replied: “No, I didn’t want to hurt her.” The grandmother gave her Calpol.

“I said to [her daughter], you need to take her to the doctor… I said you need to call an ambulance,” she said.

She also advised her daughter that whatever had occurred, they should tell the hospital the truth. In a previous incident, the witness’s daughter phoned to say the baby had blood in her mouth. The witness thought it might have been an early tooth cutting the gum.

On an occasion when she was minding the baby, she noticed a “tiny, browny-coloured bruise above her nipple”.

This evidence was given in direct examination by prosecution senior counsel Jane Hyland. Cross-examination by Ray Boland, senior counsel for the defence, was adjourned until today. Much of yesterday was spent in legal discussion in the absence of the jury.

The 31-year-old father of the child from Co Cork pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm, assault causing serious harm, and cruelty to his daughter on various dates from November 25, 2020, to January 2021 when she was aged around six months.

Judge Dermot Sheehan asked the jury to return to Cork Circuit Criminal Court today for the case which is expected to take at least until May 16.