Inconsistencies by dad accused of murdering son, trial told

THE trial of a father accused of murdering his baby son has heard there are inconsistencies in his account of how the infant died.

John Tighe, 40, has pleaded not guilty to murdering six-month-old Joshua Sussbier Tighe at his Co. Mayo home on June 1, 2013.

It is the prosecution case that baby Joshua choked on a wad consisting of two scrunched-up pieces of tissue placed in his throat by the accused.

Mr Tighe has maintained from the outset that he was changing the baby’s nappy, went to the toilet and when he returned Joshua was choking on the tissue.

Prosecution counsel Paul Murray SC began his closing speech to the jurors yesterday by saying that if they look at inconsistencies in Mr Tighe’s accounts of what happened and tie that with the medical evidence, they will be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of murdering his son.

Mr Murray said Mr Tighe had given conflicting accounts as to whether he used tissue to apply Sudocrem to the baby; whether he could hear the baby making noise when the accused was in the bathroom; and on Joshua’s condition on his return.

Further inconsistencies, Mr Murray said, could be observed when Mr Tighe, of Lavallyroe, Ballyhaunis, told emergency services he had been tapping the baby’s back for ten minutes to try to clear the obstruction but in later accounts said nothing about tapping and said then that he put his fingers into the baby’s mouth to try to remove the obstruction before calling emergency services.

Counsel also asked the jury to consider a recording of Mr Tighe’s 999 phone call which he said showed the accused at one point stating the call is costing him credit and that he has another call coming in.

Defence SC Mícheál P O’Higgins said the first thing suggesting Mr Tighe’s innocence is the fact that he called emergency services for help to save his son. The case continues before Judge Patrick McCarthy today.