Minder says child was not assaulted while in her care

A child minder on trial accused of causing serious harm to a 10-month-old baby told gardaí the child was not “violently shaken” or assaulted while in her care.

Sandra Higgins (36) told gardaí during an interview that she drove the child to hospital after the infant suffered a seizure at her home. She said she had cared for the baby like her own children.

Ms Higgins, of The Beeches, Drumgola Wood, Cavan, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the baby at her home on March 28th, 2012.

Det Garda Linda Harkin told Alice Fawsitt SC, prosecuting, she was made aware on March 30th, 2012, that there was a suspicion of non-accidental injury to a baby, and she attended Cavan General Hospital to speak to consultant paediatrician Dr Alan Finan.

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She said Dr Finan told her the child had come into the hospital in the care of Ms Higgins who had given an account of the child having a seizure prior to her arrival. The doctor told Det Gda Harkin that the child had unusual bruising to her head, face and buttocks. He said there was evidence of a subdural haematoma and two healing rib fractures, estimated to be four weeks old, and there was a bilateral haemorrhage behind her eye.

The child was no longer at the hospital at this time, having been transferred to Temple Street hospital in Dublin.

‘

One of our own’

Det Gda Harkin said she later got a report from Dr Finan, and on April 13th, 2012, Ms Higgins was arrested and taken to a Garda station for interview.

The court heard Ms Higgins told gardaí that she had been minding the child since June 2011, when the baby was six weeks old. She said the child was “treated like one of our own”, and she had a good relationship with the child’s mother.

She said there had been incidents of the child falling in her home. She agreed with gardaí she had completed “incident reports” for two earlier events only after the child was hospitalised.

Ms Higgins told gardaí the child had been unwell in the weeks prior to the incident, had been on antibiotics, and was quiet when her mother dropped her off.

She said the baby had two naps during the day, and her cheeks were “flushed” when she was woken after the second nap. She said the child went “very quiet” and was sitting still like she was in a “trance”.

Fell forward

The child minder said the infant fell forward, on to her side and then her stomach. Her whole body was jerking all over the floor before she started to vomit.

Ms Higgins told gardaí that after the seizure stopped, the child started choking and gasping. Her body was limp and cold. She vomited again in the car on the way to the hospital.

She told gardaí that the child had had falls in her home, but she had never assaulted her.

After gardaí read over the child’s injuries to her, Ms Higgins told them: “I never caused any injuries of any kind.” She denied suggestions of “violently shaking” or assaulting the child.

She told gardaí she was shocked at the allegations, and when asked how she felt about the child’s injuries, she replied “disgust and shock”.

The trial continues.