Legal News

A final year student at Sunderland University has pleaded guilty to assaulting a baby, after lifting the five-week-old infant into the air without supporting the child’s head.

Local publisher The Chronicle Live reports that the infant suffered bleeding on the brain and seizures as a result of brain injury. The baby was hospitalised for 10 days.

Forensic Computer Science undergraduate David Cox, 23, of Talbar House in Sunderland had no experience of handling babies, Newcastle Crown Court was told – and did not intend to harm the baby. He has never been in trouble before, the court heard.

When Cox was questioned by detectives on how the baby had come to suffer the injury, he admitted he may have “bumped the child’s head against his chest” and said he had rocked the baby, as well as bouncing the baby – and had lifted him up and down into the air without supporting his head.

The baby boy was taken to a walk-in centre after becoming “limp like a rag doll” while alone with Cox. The infant was also uttering an “abnormal, screechy cry”, the court was told.

A GP at the walk-in centre sent the baby straight to Sunderland Royal Infirmary for a CT scan, which showed abnormalities on the brain involving “a small collection of blood outside the brain area”, the prosecution told the court.

The baby was then sent to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle for specialist care, where he started having a number of seizures requiring medication.

The baby’s mother said in a victim impact statement that had she suffered “considerable distress” during the “frightening and upsetting experience”. She said her young baby was “connected to monitors” during his hospital stay and this she found “especially traumatic”.

The infant is now making excellent progress in his recovery, the court heard.

Judge Sean Morris said that the case was one of the most unusual he had come across in his career.

“I accept that this was an injury that was caused during a reckless handling of this small child,” he told Cox in court.

“The prosecution accepts you did not intend to cause this child any harm whatsoever. Had it been intentional, you would have been going to prison for about three years – but it wasn’t.

“Most importantly of all, the youngster is alright, thank God.”

Cox admitted assaulting the baby and was sentenced to a community order for 12 months with supervision.

Cox’s defence lawyer said that his client’s actions constituted a “thoughtless act”:

“It must be just on the very edge of criminal intent – it was a thoughtless act. He had no experience of children. He is so deeply, deeply sorry,” he told the court.

Had Cox been found guilty of GBH, he could have faced up to five years in jail.

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