Baby’s skull injury ‘would require signif icant force’

also revealed in a full skeletal survey of the baby girl – while a doctor told the court the mother’s excuses for how the injuries came about were not credible.

These older injuries included a healing fracture of the left tibia (the larger bone on the lower left leg); a healing fracture of the right femur (the thigh bone extending from the hip to the knee), and an older right-sided skull fracture.

Doctors also detected a torn frenulum – the muscle under the tongue. The child’s mother said that this could have occurred as a result of forcing a bottle or a soother into the baby’s mouth.

The east Clare woman, now aged 22, also initially claimed that the baby had sustained her leg injuries after falling out of a pram.

She also told gardaí that the skull fracture may have happened when the child fell out of a bouncer and hit her head on the wall, or when the mother fell on the floor with the baby in her arms.

The injuries were discovered after the mother, who was then aged 19, presented to her GP, Dr Conor Magee, on February 13, 2015, in a distressed state with the baby. Her daughter’s left arm wasn’t moving and she had bruising to her face.

Dr Magee referred the case immediately to the paediatric unit of University Hospital Limerick.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that doctors found the baby had suffered a skull fracture, a broken arm and two broken legs under the care of her mother.

Medics at UHL also carried out a full skeletal survey of the baby that detected the older injuries.

Dr Barry Linnane, consultant paediatrician at UHL provided care to the baby and in evidence he expressed doubt over the explanations given by the mother for the injuries.

Dr Linnane said that the injuries occurred on different dates during the baby’s first five months.

The mother said that the baby had sustained her leg injuries after falling out of a pram.

However, Dr Linnane said: ‘It is very difficult to understand how a baby could fall from a pram and even i f that did happen, you wouldn’t expect two fractures, which were of a different age.’

The mother told gardaí that the skull fracture may have occurred when the child fell out of a bouncer, or when she fell while holding the baby.

Again, Dr Linnane said that the two explanations were unlikely to explain the injuries, as significant force would be required to cause such an injury.

The mother said the injury to the arm occurred as a result of her catching the baby’s arm as she fell backwards. However, Dr Linnane said this explanation was difficult to understand and unlikely.

Counsel for the mother, Patrick Whyms BL, told the court that the State had not proceeded with an assault causing harm charge against his client and that there was no evidence to support a charge that the mother had deliberately assaulted the baby.

He said: ‘Throughout the statements in the book of evidence, we have stories of people observing this baby treated in a manner which would cause people to recoil.’ However, he added: ‘We have nobody saying that they ever saw the mother attempt to deliberately injure this baby.’

Counsel continued: ‘Of course, this baby has sustained a catalogue of injuries and of course it is the duty of the parents to protect her, but there is no evidence that it was the mother’s purpose to injure the baby.

‘ Clearly, the baby has been treated in too rough a fashion by f ar and has sustained these injuries.’

The mother had been diagnosed as suffering post-natal depression in October 2014. The baby is now in the care of the father as a result of a care order and the mother is allowed supervised access.

The woman has pleaded guilty to wilfully assaulting and neglecting the child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary injury to the child’s health and seriously affect her wellbeing.

The charge is contrary to Section 246 of the Children’s Act.

The offence took place between the summer of 2014 and February 2015, and the woman can’t be named in order to protect the identity of her little girl.

Yesterday, Judge Gerald Keys said the probation report on the woman recommends she be placed under the supervision of the Probation Service for a period.

Judge Keys said the report states in order to assess the risk of reoffending, it was necessary for the services to have contact with the woman and that Tusla staff engage with the Probation Service to ensure the wellbeing of the baby.

He adjourned the case for mention to December 18 to fix a date for sentence.

Claimed child fell out of pram ‘Treated in too rough a fashion’