Attack left baby girl with fractured skull

A man who attacked two babies in Fife, told the mother of one it looked like she had “a sore one” after fracturing her skull, court heard.

Christopher Kirk, 31, formerly of St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy, assaulted both the children when they were aged under one at houses in Fife.

During the attacks Kirk got hold of one child and shook him violently and also left a baby girl with a fractured skull.

The former night porter was due to stand trial at the High Court in Edinburgh this week, accused of attempting to murder the girl between 2018 and 2019.

However, the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of assaulting her to her severe injury and the danger of her life by squeezing her body, shaking her violently and striking her head with an unknown object or causing her head to strike against an object.

The first offender also admitted assaulting the boy between 2014 and the following year by shaking him violently.

Advocate depute Derick Nelson told the court one witness had described Kirk as having “ongoing anger management issues”.

The court heard Kirk contacted the mother of the girl, who he had been looking after, to tell her she had an injury that looked like “a sore one”.

She decided to contact NHS24 and was advised to take the child to the hospital.

The baby was found to have sustained a fractured skull and other injuries.

The court was told the force involved in the head injury sustained by the little girl could have killed her.

Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports and Kirk was remanded in custody.