Boy’s injuries no accident, expert tells murder trial
THE Assistant State Pathologist has told the trial of a man accused of murdering a little boy that the injuries which caused the child’s death were not inflicted accidentally.
Dr Peter Ingram was giving evidence in the case of Liam Whoriskey (25), who denies murdering Kayden McGuinness, his fiancee’s three-year-old child.
He took to the witness box on the sixth day of the trial at Londonderry Crown Court.
Whoriskey, from Glenabbey Gardens in the city, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kayden in the child’s family home, where the defendant also lived, between September 16 and 17, 2017.
He also denies two charges of child cruelty and one charge of child neglect.
Whoriskey found Kayden’s body in the child’s bedroom in the family flat on Colmcille Court in the Bogside area just before 10am on September 17.
The defendant had been babysitting the child and a five-month-old baby girl while their mother, Erin McLaughlin, stayed out overnight after socialising with family members and friends.
Dr Ingram told the jury of seven men and five women that he carried out a post-mortem examination on the body of Kayden on September 20 and 21, 2017. “There were multiple injuries on his body, mostly bruises, most of which were on his face and scalp,” he said.
“There were also some on the limbs and trunk. On the face there were four bruises on the right cheek, including a large bruise on the centre of the cheek.
“There were three bruises on the left side of the forehead, up to seven bruises on the left cheek and a further bruise on the under-surface of the chin.
“There was a small laceration, or a tear, on the lobule of the right ear.
“There were also at least 15 bruises on the scalp. These bruises were visible to the naked eye and, using the microscope, of a broadly similar age.”
Dr Ingram said the marks were less than a few days old “and possibly less than this”.
He added: “These injuries were caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
“As the result of one or more of these blows to the head, a thin film of bleeding, a type known as subdural haemorrhage, had developed over the surface of the brain and the brain had become swollen, termed cerebral oedema.
“The combination of the subdural haemorrhage and the cerebral oedema is indicative of severe blunt force trauma of the head and it was this which was responsible for the boy’s death.”
Death was unlikely to have been immediate, Dr Ingram said.
He added: “Indeed, there were subtle changes in the brain indicating a period of survival of at least half an hour after the fatal head injury was sustained.
“While it is not uncommon for young children of this age to sustain minor injuries from knocks and falls, the multiplicity of injuries in this case and their pattern and distribution clearly indicates that they were non-accidentally sustained and were as a result of his being assaulted, possibly repeatedly, over a period of time.
“The multiple bruising on the scalp, associated with the underlying injury to the brain, was due to his having been struck repeatedly on the head, possibly by punching.
“Similarly, the bruising on the right cheek and on the under-surface of the chin could have been caused by blows from a fist.”
Dr Ingram said that a fracture of the child’s fifth left rib could have been caused by forceful compression of the toddler’s chest by squeezing.
“Thus, in summary, this young boy had sustained a large number of bruises caused by blunt force trauma to his face and head, undoubtedly as a result of non-accidental injury,” he added.
“As a result of the blows to the head, there had been bleeding over the surface of the brain, which had also become swollen.
“It was the effects of the head injury which were the cause of his death.”
Prosecution barrister Peter Irvine QC queried if “the trauma required to cause this subdural haemorrhage” had occurred on the Friday of that week, could the child have survived until his death?” Dr Ingram replied “absolutely not, no”.
The trial continues.