An adopted Romanian child named David, who died almost three years ago, was discovered on exhumation to have suffered multiple fractures to his body before his death.
Geoffrey Briggs, a former lay African missionary from Portadown, Co Armagh, was last year sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for seriously assaulting the boy's twin brother, Samuel, because he refused to take the medicine Calpol from him.
Briggs and his wife, Gwen, adopted the twin Romanian boys in July 2000. Three months later, 13-month-old David died from a suspected case of meningitis. However, the cause of his death was never formally established and no inquest has so far been held into his death.
A fortnight after David's death, his brother, Samuel, was admitted to Craigavon Hospital. Initially, Briggs told doctors that Samuel had been "clenching his fists, his eyes were wide and his head became floppy".
X-rays and a CT scan revealed a fracture to the right side of Samuel's head, but Briggs denied injuring the child or knowing how he sustained the fracture.
Briggs, however, admitted assaulting Samuel when he was later interviewed by a social worker, Craigavon Crown Court heard last year. The court was told that Briggs became frustrated when the child refused to take Calpol from him. "The next thing he knew, he had punched Samuel on the head with his fist," the court was told.
His wife was upstairs at the time of the assault, the court heard.
Briggs was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to the child and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. He is now free and is no longer living in Northern Ireland.
After the assault conviction, police became involved in David's case, and his body was exhumed. It was found that the child had suffered 16 fractures to his ribs and torso in the months prior to his death.
The then Sinn Féin health minister, Ms Bairbre de Brún, ordered a review of the case. This review was yesterday presented to the current health minister, Ms Angela Smith.
"I am horrified that a child has suffered in this way," Ms Smith said. "I will need to look at the report carefully and without delay to ensure that nothing like this can happen again. The three key questions that need to be answered are: what happened, what went wrong and what are the lessons for the future?"
Former SDLP Assembly member Ms Patricia Lewsley said that the report should be published to try to allay public concern.
Ms Lewsley said that she was not advocating a witch-hunt, but serious questions about the handling of the case of the Romanian twins had to be answered.
She added: "This child was originally said to have died from meningitis, but it has now emerged that 16 fractures found on the child's body were never explained. The review of the case should clarify whether these injuries were a factor in the child's death and, if so, why did they go undetected?"
