Trial begins of Mayo man accused of murdering his baby son
A 40-year-old man has gone on trial accused of murdering his baby son in county Mayo.
John Tighe of Lavallyroe in Ballyhaunis denies murdering six-and-a-half-month-old Joshua and says what happened was a "pure accident".
In his opening speech the prosecuting barrister told the jury that baby Joshua Sussbier Tighe was born in November 2012.
By the following June, his parents John and Natasha’s relationship ran into difficulty and they no longer lived together.
On May 31, Natasha posted on Facebook about a new relationship and that day the accused John Tighe collected Joshua and brought him to his house.
The next day he rang a medical practice and said he had been changing the baby’s nappy and had gone to the toilet.
When he came back he thought the baby was choking on a baby wipe that he thought he had grabbed.
The jury was told it would be alleged that a post-mortem showed baby Joshua died from asphyxiation and there was an egg-shaped wad of tissue in his throat.
The Prosecution says it would be alleged a six and a half-month-old baby isn’t able to form an object like this with his hands or of chewing or swallowing something of this size.
He said if the baby couldn’t have physically done it - there was only one other person in the house at the time.
