Inquest told of baby's head injuries

EVIDENCE OF severe head injuries which caused the death of a five-week-old baby was "highly indicative of non-accidental injury", an inquest in Dublin has been told.

Ekam Singh, Garrison Mews, Loughlinstown, Dublin, died at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, on March 30th, 2005. The jury heard statements which had been made by the boy's parents, Kulvinder Singh and Preetnain Kour, before the postmortem results were completed.

His parents returned to India shortly after the baby was cremated and have since declined requests made through Indian authorities to be interviewed further, Det Sgt Thomas Byrne of Cabinteely Garda station told Dublin City Coroner's Court.

In their statements, the parents detailed how on the morning of March 23rd, 2005, the baby was due to attend a local clinic. Ms Kour went to get dressed while Mr Singh changed the child's nappy and clothes, after which Mr Singh said the baby was sleeping.

When Ms Kour went to wash the baby's face she said there was no reaction and she discovered that he was not breathing.

They contacted the local clinic and brought the child there, where he received mouth-to-mouth treatment and was taken by ambulance to hospital, they said.

The baby was placed on a ventilator, but a week later the tube was removed and the boy died.

His parents had also described a number of incidents in the previous week over which the child was brought to medical attention.

The baby had been taken to the GP with swelling on his face on March 16th, but it went down that night.

Mr Singh said he had dropped the child on the floor on March 18th. He said the baby was crying and he was holding him in both arms when he went to get a soother.

He tripped and the baby fell on his head on the ground.

Ms Kour was in another room when she heard a noise from the living room. The baby was fine when examined by a doctor.

A couple of days later the baby was taken to hospital with jerking in his arm and leg, but all tests and X-rays taken at Temple Street Children's Hospital came back clear.

In his postmortem, Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis found a large area of bruising in the deep tissue of the right of the scalp as well as bruising on the brain. All of these were consistent with a head injury, he said.

A defect on the right side of the skull was examined by an expert bone pathologist in Glasgow, Dr Robin Reid, who said he favoured it being a fracture. A radiologist at Crumlin also identified a fracture on the boy's skull.

Retinal haemorrhage of the type seen in non-accidental injury was found on the boy's eyes, Dr Curtis explained.

The devastating brain injury was caused by blunt trauma to the head from impact with a flat surface on March 23rd, Dr Curtis found. He definitively eliminated the earlier fall as the cause.

The child died of head injury which was very suggestive of non-accidental injury, but there was lack of information as to what happened, coroner Dr Brian Farrell explained to the jury.

The jury of two women and four men returned an open verdict under Dr Farrell's direction.

Subsequent statements from the parents were needed for the Director of Public Prosecutions to proceed and the case remained open, Det Sgt Byrne said.