Cork Court: Father denies cruelty to six-month-old baby

A man accused of cruelty to his six-month-old baby daughter and seriously assaulting her is not a monster but did shake the infant because he was under pressure and overwhelmed as a first-time father, the prosecution claimed.

The 31-year-old got into the witness box at Cork Circuit Criminal Court today and denied that he shook or dropped his daughter.

Jane Hyland, prosecution senior counsel, referred him to admissions he had made to various parties including doctors, Tusla social workers, and gardaí, that he had dropped his daughter twice, once when she fell from his arms from a couch to the floor and another time when he dropped her on the landing at the top of the stairs when he tripped, and to shaking her on two other occasions.

The defendant said that none of those things happened, that he never shook or dropped the infant.

Ms Hyland said the accused was now saying that the six-month-old drank her bottle, ate porridge, and fell off to sleep without difficulty on the morning of January 4, 2021, when he was minding her and that all of her injuries occurred “spontaneously”. The prosecutor outlined the injuries, including bleeding to the retina of both eyes, brain hemorrhage, deep soft tissue injuries to the back of her neck, and blood going down the baby’s spine from top to the base. The accused replied that he was not saying they occurred spontaneously.

Ms Hyland said: “They happened because you shook her.” He replied: “No, I did not shake her at all.” 

She reminded him of what he told one social worker: “You told her you don’t know what came over you, you picked [baby] out of the cot and shook her back and forth… It is the only explanation that fits.” He replied, “I don’t think it fits.”

As to why he confessed to dropping and shaking the child, he said: “We were told that as soon as one of us [him or the child’s mother] admitted to doing something they would work on reuniting her with the other parent.”

Ms Hyland said: “You have told so many lies.” He replied: “I have also been lied to as well.”

In his direct evidence, he told defence senior counsel Ray Boland that he and his partner had a second child, but that they were no longer together.

The trial continues. The defendant pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm, assault causing serious harm, and cruelty to his daughter on various dates from November, 2020, to January, 2021.