Father ‘killed baby by putting tissue down throat’, court told
Accus ed denies murdering six-month-old son
A FATHER murdered his six-and-a-half-month-old son by putting an egg-shaped wad of tissue in his throat, the prosecution in his murder trial has alleged.
John Tighe (40), of Lavallyroe, Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his son Joshua Sussbier Tighe at his home on June 1, 2013. The court also heard that baby Joshua’s mother returned to a relationship with Mr Tighe following the death.
Paul Murray SC opened the trial yesterday, telling the jury the prosecution case is that the baby died from asphyxiation having choked on a “bolus” of tissue. The accused, according to counsel, has said from the outset the death was accidental and the baby grabbed and swallowed the tissue while Mr Tighe was in the bathroom.
Mr Murray said the jury will hear evidence that a baby of Joshua’s age would be unable to form the wad of tissue with their hands and would be incapable of chewing it or swallowing it.
He said if the jury accepts that to be true, the only other person present at the time was Mr Tighe, who he said is “the only one person who could be responsible”.
Mr Murray told the jury of eight men and four women that the accused has lived all his life in Ballyhaunis and met Joshua’s mother, Natasha Sussbier, in 2011. They formed a relationship and moved in together.
She got pregnant in 2012 and Joshua was born on November 16 that year. There were problems with the relationship
Mr Tighe said he was changing the baby’s nappy, went to the toilet and when he came the baby was choking
between the accused and Ms Sussbier so that by around March 2013 they were not living together, but they shared custody of the baby.
Mr Murray said Ms Sussbier had formed a new relationship and that fact was posted on Facebook on May 31, 2013. On that same day, Mr Tighe collected Joshua from Ms Sussbier and brought the baby back to his house.
The following day, Mr Tighe called the WestDoc medical service and told the first person he spoke with that he was changing the baby’s nappy, went to the loo and when he came back the baby was choking on a baby wipe and had gone a bit blue.
Wipe
He then spoke to another person and said he thought the baby had grabbed a baby wipe and was choking on something. He told the person the wipes were beside the baby and that he turned his back for a second.
The person on the phone told Mr Tighe to bang, tap and hit the baby’s back and turn him over, to try to get something up. Mr Tighe replied that he had been doing that for 10 minutes and “he has gone a bit blue”.
A doctor who had been summoned arrived but Joshua had already passed away. Mr Murray said the doctor will give evidence that he could not see the tissue, but could feel it in the child’s throat.
Those facts are, according to Mr Murray, “not in dispute”. But what happened then is the nub of what the jury will have to decide.
Mr Murray said that a post-mortem examination showed there were two pieces of tissue in the throat, one of which consisted of an egg-like shape, measuring 5cm by 3.5cm. When unwrapped, the ball was found to consist of two sheets of tissue paper, one 2-ply and the other 3-ply.
The prosecution case, which is disputed, is that this wad of tissue caused the death of baby Joshua by restricting the airways, leading to Joshua’s asphyxiation. The jury, counsel said, will have to decide the cause of death.
The prosecution also says a six-and-a-half-month-old baby is not capable of grabbing a piece of paper and forming a bolus such as was found in Joshua’s throat.
The jury then heard from Daniel Sommerville, who told Mr Murray he dated Ms Sussbier in 2013. He confirmed the relationship was posted to Facebook on May 31, the day before Joshua died, but agreed with defence counsel Mícheál P O’Higgins SC that the relationship would have been apparent prior to that.
He also agreed with Mr O’Higgins that his relationship with Ms Sussbier ended, and she returned to a relationship with Mr Tighe.
The case continues in front of Justice Patrick McCarthy.