Boy had rare eye injuries, murder trial jury is told
A SIX-year-old boy allegedly murdered by his father and his girlfriend suffered ‘‘severe’’ eye injuries very rarely seen, a court heard.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes sustained widespread bleeding and a detached retina in his right eye, Dr Roger Malcolmson told a jury.
The consultant pathologist also revealed the boy had a shrunken thymus organ in his chest which was likely caused by ‘‘prolonged physical stress’’.
He was the latest medical expert to give evidence at Coventry Crown Court where Thomas Hughes, aged 29, and Emma Tustin, 32, stand trial. They both deny murdering Arthur at their home in Cranmore Road, Shirley as well as multiple counts of child cruelty.
Dr Malcolmson, a consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologist, said the interior of the scalp showed bruising and ‘‘subdural’’ bleeding.
He then revealed Arthur’s right kidney was larger than expected and had grown to compensate for his ‘‘extremely small’’ left kidney, which was shrunken, scarred and lacking ‘‘functional’’ tissue.
But Dr Malcolmson told the court there was no evidence to suggest he was suffering from kidney failure at the time of his death in June last year.
Turning to the small thymus, an organ in the immune system located in the chest, he said: “It is small because of a period of severe and or prolonged physical stress.”
The expert confirmed ‘‘repeated and sustained abuse’’ could have accounted for its reduced size.
Briefly addressing the pattern of bruising on Arthur’s body, Dr Malcolmson told the jury it was consistent with ‘‘inflicted injuries’’.
The jury has been told that together Tustin and Hughes isolated Arthur from the rest of the family, made him spend up to 14 hours a day in the hallway, deprived him of water and poisoned him with salt.
The prosecution say Tustin inflicted the fatal assault on June 16 whilst alone with Arthur, and that Hughes was equally responsible for ‘‘encouraging’’ it.
(Proceeding)