Mother relieved by guilty verdicts

Almost five years later, the mother of a baby who was severely injured at three weeks old is relieved to see the man responsible found guilty.

“My son’s life was forever changed and damaged at the hands of one who was supposed to love and protect him but did quite the opposite,” says the mother.

Names cannot be used in this story because when he found the man guilty, a Supreme Court justice imposed a ban on the publication of information that could identify the child.

The baby is now a little boy. He is four years old but his mother says he cannot walk.

“He is in the process of getting a wheelchair and is involved with a lot of therapies and specialist teams at the IWK,” she says.

At the time of his injury in 2011, doctors described the infant’s brain and skull injury akin to a crushed egg.

Skull fractures resulted in permanent brain damage, a stroke affected his left side and he had retinal hemorrhages behind both eyes. The baby also required brain surgery because he developed hydrocephalus, or water on the brain.

The 28-year-old man was convicted in Supreme Court in Shelburne last week after standing trial in May. He has been found guilty of aggravated assault, failing to provide the necessities of life and criminal negligence by failing to seek medical assistance. He will be sentenced at the Shelburne courthouse on Sept. 9.