Dad on trial over shaken baby's lifelong injuries

Since Saturday morning, December 12, 2020, less than two weeks before Christmas, the infant girl relies on a catheter, and lives with irreversible brain damage.

Who did it, and when, is at the centre of a judge-alone trial in the Newcastle District Court where her father, who cannot be named and is referred to only by the initials GP, has pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent.

In her opening address, Crown prosecutor Jillian Kelton said the last person to attend to the baby was her father, who put her to bed the night before, got up to her at 2am that morning, and also got her out of bed at about 9am.

The evidence includes a text message from him to the baby's mother saying: "I know they're blaming me for everything because I was the last one with her."

The child's mother is expected to give evidence saying she did not get up to tend to the baby that night or morning, and the first she knew of the baby girl's injuries was when she saw the baby being carried down the hall by the father, before they took her to hospital.

There is footage of the mother entering the hospital with the baby in her arms showing the baby's limbs were limp, swinging only in step with her mother's movements, Ms Kelton said.

Presiding Judge Pauline David was told that the child's father has given various versions of events to police, before and after being arrested, about the baby's symptoms.

In some instances he said she was perfectly fine, and still kicking her legs while at the hospital. At other times he described her as going limp while she was on a change table at home that morning before going to hospital.

The circumstantial case against him is that he was one to bottle things up, and that in the lead up to the incident he was under enormous pressure, and that it only took a few seconds to shake the baby with enough severity to cause her lifelong injuries.

The pressures on the Cessnock-based family included that while the then 26-year-old father was at work, the mother was looking after their toddler, who is described as having challenging behaviours.

The mother was, at the same time, experiencing complex and ongoing mental health problems, including previous suicide attempts and self-harm.

She was juggling a large number of prescription medications which were often changed, both in type and dosage, for more than a year in the lead up to the incident.

Ms Kelton outlined details of the chaotic nature of the mental health care she received from her treating doctors, who included her general practitioner, Dr Olakunle Fowosere, and a Sydney-based psychiatrist named Kim Nguyen, who worked out of a clinic in Gordon.

At times, she herself changed, and lost track of what she was taking and struggled with a range of serious side effects including nausea, severe fatigue, weight loss, nightmares, twitches, and difficulties sleeping.

The woman's parents were often called on to help out with the toddler, living with them for chunks of time.

By mid-December, 2020, the father quit his job - shift work in the mines, an hour's drive away, to help care for the baby and his eldest daughter, as well as to support the mother.

He was getting up to the baby at night because it was "his turn".

Money was tight, and at times he struggled to cope with the care of his daughters, the judge was told.

Defence barrister Paul Rosser, KC, said it was not in dispute that the child was injured by one or other of the parents, but the idea that the father was the only one who got up to the child that night or morning was an assumption.

"Ultimately you've got two adults in a house, you've got a child with injuries," Mr Rosser said.

"One of them did it. He's not saying she did it, he's saying 'I didn't', and as a matter of logic, 'if I didn't do it, she must've' done it."

The issue was whether or not the mother was a truthful and a reliable witness, and whether the judge could accept her evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she did not get up to the baby.

"That injury could have been inflicted sometime between 2am and 9am, whether hours before or minutes before," Mr Rosser said.

The trial continues.