Trial of man for killing infant continues
A trial has heard that a 34-year-old man accused of murdering his fiancée's baby consoled his crying partner when doctors told them the infant was brain dead.
Philip Doyle of Tinakilly, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow denies murdering three and a half-month old Ross Murphy, claiming he fell while holding the infant at their home in Creagh Demesne, Gorey on April 5, 2005.
Grandmother Catherine Murphy today described Ross as a fine healthy baby, but told the court that when her daughter Leona rang in a panic several nights before his death she urged her to bring Ross to the out-of-hours doctor.
The jury heard the baby was hospitalised with a rash on both sides of his neck and under his arm but he was released in very good form on the morning of Sunday, April 3 2005..
The Murphy family and Mr Doyle gathered for Sunday lunch but while watching a match in the pub at 6.30pm that evening Leona's father Brendan Murphy got a call to say Ross had stopped breathing.
In the early hours of the morning the baby was rushed from Wexford General Hospital to the intensive care unit at Crumlin Children's Hospital, where he died the following morning.
The jury today heard Leona Murphy and Mr Doyle "cried their eyes out" and the accused tried to console his partner when doctors told them Ross was brain dead.
