Nurse noted dad’s words
A NURSE has told a court she wrote down what murder accused Nicholas Baxter told her about his dying son because it wasn’t consistent with what she had been told in clinical handover.
Lindsay Nichol, who worked at the Townsville Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit ( NICU), testified on the fifth day of Baxter’s murder trial in Townsville Supreme Court yesterday.
Baxter allegedly shook or struck his six- week- old son Matthew on November 3, 2011 while his partner Tenae was out doing a boat licence course.
Referring to notes she made at the time, Ms Nichol told the court about a conversation she had with Baxter.
“He stated that he went to check on Matthew post- feed, and that he was unsure of the exact reason he did so,” she said. “Matthew did not seem to be quite right, hence he picked him up.
“Nick states that when he looks at his eyes, it was someone had turned off switch.”
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane asked Ms Nichol why she documented the conversation.
“I felt that the information that I had been given during clinical handover was significantly different,” she said.
Neonatologist Dr Gary Alcock told the court he cared for Matthew in NICU until the baby’s life support was switched off on November 6.
Dr Alcock said Matthew showed no signs of infections or blood clotting and was previously healthy, apart from like the some green stools. He said an MRI showed bleeding in Matthew’s brain and an ophthalmologist discovered severe retinal haemorrhages.
Dr Alcock said after conducting investigations and speaking to colleagues he reported the matter to the police child protection investigation unit.
“With the findings of the brain bleeding and the eye bleeding, it made me concerned about injury.”
Dr Alcock said earlier he had spoken to Baxter about what happened to Matthew.
“He told me that Matthew had been asleep, had woken up crying, he told me that he left Matthew lying for a few minutes in case he went back to sleep again,” he said.
Baxter allegedly said that when Matthew didn’t go back to sleep, he gave him colic drops.
“( Matthew) became very quiet, he phoned a GP for advice, and shortly after that Matthew stopped breathing and he phone ( triple- 0),” he said.
The trial is expected to continue on Monday.