Baby's trauma 'highly suggested shaking'
The State Pathologist has told the trial of a man accused of murdering his ex-fiancee’s baby, that trauma suffered by the infant “highly suggested a shaking incident”.
Philip Doyle (aged 34) of Tinakilly, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering three-and-a-half-month-old Ross Murphy at 3 Creagh Demesne, Gorey, Co. Wexford on April 5, 2005.
Leona Murphy (aged 28), who is now expecting her third child, previously told the court that on April 3 she went out to get a DVD, leaving her baby alone with Mr Doyle in the house they shared at Creagh Demesne.
The court heard the baby was initially taken to Wexford General Hospital on March 31, 2005 because he was lifeless and getting sick on the bed. He was kept in for observation because of a rash on his neck and released on Sunday, April 3.
The firstborn returned to the hospital that evening in cardiac arrest and was rushed to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in the early hours of the next morning but died the next day.
Today, State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy told Mr Tom O’ Connell SC prosecuting she concluded the baby died from brain trauma from which he would not have recovered.
She said when she conducted the autopsy at Dublin City Mortuary on April 6, 2005 that she was careful in distinguishing injuries from medical intervention marks.
She told the court there was widespread blunt trauma including bruises on the trunk, leg and the hands as well as the head.
Prof. Cassidy said such trauma would not be expected to occur in a not yet mobile child without some explanation.
The injury to the forehead had a patterned or textured appearance and the child’s head could have been struck against a similarly patterned surface such as a carpet or sofa, Prof Cassidy told the court.
The court also heard another bruise could have been caused “by pinching the ear firmly.”
Prof. Cassidy told the court normal handling of a healthy child should not result in such bruising.
Prof. Cassidy said there was deep bruising consistent with the trunk being firmly gripped and that haemorrhages inside the eyes “highly suggested a shaking incident.”
She said the child had developed pneumonia hastening his death but that the cause of death was head trauma.
Dr Cassidy said the brain was examined by a neuropathologist and that the eyes were removed and examined by an ophthalmic pathologist.
Prof. Cassidy, who is yet to be cross-examined by defence counsel, continues her evidence when the trial resumes on Thursday before a jury of seven men and five women presided over by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.
