THE jury at the trial of a Co Armagh man accused of murdering his infant son heard from a medical expert on Monday who said the baby suffered a “traumatic’' brain and spinal injuries caused by “shaking’'.
Craig Rowland (29), denies murdering his son Lewis Rowland and further denies the manslaughter of his son in October 2018.
Rowland and the child’s mother Laura Graham (31), of Millington Park, Portadown, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully neglecting their son.
Lewis passed away three years later in October 2018 following complications arising from surgery.
It is the Crown’s case that the life-changing injuries he sustained in 2015 played a significant role in his death.
Giving his evidence by videolink on the third day of the trial at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Jayaratnam Jayamohan, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon, said he had examined medical records in relation to the infant.
He told the jury a CT scan carried out on the child following admission to Craigavon Area Hospital on Friday, November 11, 2015, showed no fracturing to his skull and no evidence of swelling of the scalp at that time.
“The outside of the skill looked OK but inside was very not OK,’’ he said.
He said he noted from the scan that the child had two “separate bleedings in spaces outside of the brain and he had bruising or a tear to the brain tissue in the left temple region’'.
A second CT scan was carried out the following day which showed the widespread injury to the brain had “progressed’'. “That ball had started rolling before his first CT scan,’’ said Mr Jayamohan.
He said a MRI scan was carried out on November 24 which showed some “bleeding into the middle of the brain. This showed bleeding to all parts of the brain and right into the centre’'.
“This is showing what significant injury which had occurred.’’
The court heard a MRI scan was carried on the infant’s spine which found a “substantial amount of blood’' in the lower half.
Said Mr Jayamohan: “This is blood that has not travelled from the head down the spine but it is actual bleeding in the spine.’’
He said the “spinal injuries had been caused by a shaking injury’', adding that a follow up MRI scan in April 2016 showed that a “lot of brain tissue had died off...the brain cannot regrow, once it is injured it dies off’'.
The consultant said he believed the significant injury to the child’s brain was caused by “shaking’'.
Under cross examination from defence counsel Seamus McNeill KC, the lawyer said to Mr Jayamohan that when the child first went to hospital “it is fair to say he was very seriously ill’'.
Mr Jayamohan replied: “That’s correct. He could have died very easily.’’
Dr Kieran McHugh, a consultant who specialises in examining child X-rays was called by the prosecution to give evidence in the trial.
The consultant paediatric radiologist confirmed to the court he had been provided with a synopsis of the case.
The synopsis stated the baby was admitted with “serious non-accidental’' head injuries.
Dr McHugh said he had been asked to review radiological findings, in particular on his skeleton and bones. During this review he noted a healing fracture on one of the child’s ribs.
Asked by the prosecutor what caused the rib fracture, Dr McHugh replied: “The most likely cause was by severe squeezing of the baby’s chest.