Couple accused of inflicting multiple fractures on infant who was close to death

An Antrim couple have gone on trial accused of inflicting multiple fractures to an infant who was close to death.

A Newry Crown Court jury of six men and six women heard on Monday that when the “very young child” was admitted to the Royal Belfast Hospital for sick children, doctors found that he had sustained a fractured skull, associated bleeding on his brain and retinas, a laceration to his liver, almost 30 fractures to his ribs and two fractures to each of his legs.

On trial jointly charged with four offences are 35-year-old Amanda Fulton and her husband Christopher (34). The couple, from Rockfield Gardens in Mosside near Ballymoney, are accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, causing or allowing the child to suffer significant physical harm and a charge of child cruelty in that they allegedly wilfully neglected the child in a manner likely to cause him suffering, alleged to have been committed on dates between November 5th and 8th, 2019.

The couple face a further allegation of child cruelty. This charge is alleged to have been committed between October 17th and November 2nd. Opening the Crown case, prosecuting counsel Toby Hedworth told the jury some of the child’s 27 rib fractures had begun to heal so they must have been inflicted on an earlier date.

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The Crown case is that the child was subjected to significant blunt force trauma whether by a punch by a closed fist or potentially being thrown or dropped on to a hard surface, shaking which was violent enough to cause fractures and compression with sufficient force that would fracture multiple ribs.

Urging them to approach the evidence in a “calm and calculated manner” the senior barrister explained how the prosecution believe one or other of the defendants inflicted the injuries at a time and place when their co-accused was “in close proximity” and would have known the infant was being harmed yet did nothing to intervene.

Mr Hepworth told the jury and trial Judge Roseanne McCormick how Mr Fulton rang his GP surgery just after 1pm on November 7th to report how the infant “had a raw throat and was not drinking his bottles”.

They saw the doctor at 4.10pm that afternoon and when the GP noted the child was not responding to physical stimuli and his pupils were not reacting the way they should, “the doctor suspected a possibly serious head injury” and rang 999.

The child was taken to the Causeway Hospital but when doctors there discovered he had a fractured skull and bleeding on his brain, the child was transferred to the intensive care unit at the children’s hospital.

Mr Hepworth told the jury that “further medical investigations revealed that he had sustained a catalogue of injuries” which he listed as:

• Fractured skull with associated bleeding to the brain and retinal bleeding
• 27 rib fractures
• Fractures to both thigh bones
• Fractures to both shin bones
• Fractured wrist

Surgeons removed part of his skull in order to relieve the pressure. The jury heard that “he was deemed to be gravely unwell and there was a fear that he would not survive”.

Mr Hedworth told the court that as the case develops over the next month, there would be evidence from a consultant paediatric radiologist and a neurosurgeon as to the timings of the injuries, how they could have been sustained and how the victim would have presented.

The jury heard that while all of the injuries “could have been caused accidentally” or have an innocent explanation such as the child being dropped or an adult falling on the child, “neither Mr nor Mrs Fulton have given any explanation for how any of these injuries could have been sustained”.

“There was no reference to any incident or crash that would have resulted in a skull fracture, a brain injury, a laceration to the liver or any other fractures,” Crown counsel told the jury.

Claiming that it was clear the defendants were “telling lies” about how the victim was injured, the barrister told the jury the prosecution believe the child was injured “at some stage” between his midnight feed and the morning time.

The trial is set to last up to four weeks.

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