Monster faces jail for dangling tot by his hood
Attack turned baby’s face blue
A THUG who hoisted a baby into the air by the neck of his hooded jacket and choked him was told yesterday that he faces jail.
George Cochrane, 27, dangled the boy in mid-air while he was strapped into a pushchair. Witnesses saw the 15-month-old baby’s face turn purple – and then blue – during the attack.
Jobless Cochrane was angry because the child had been crying. He only stopped the assault when a witness challenged him.
He had also attacked the baby for crying a few weeks before. Stirling sheriff William Gilchrist remanded him in custody until April 19 and warned him that prison was “almost inevitable”.
Cochrane dangled the baby last year while visiting an address in Grangemouth for lunch.
Prosecutor Matthew Kerr said he called the child a “little b ***** d” for crying, then assaulted him.
He added: “Both the child and the pushchair were lifted from the floor. Both witnesses observed the baby’s face go purple and then blue and saw he was struggling to breathe.”
The witnesses were already concerned after a previous incident where Cochrane seized the baby by his jacket and violently shook him back and forth for crying.
Social workers were contacted the next day and doctors found bruises on the baby’s forehead and a mark on his thigh.
Cochrane, of Lumley Street, Grangemouth, pled guilty to assault and threatening and abusive behaviour between December 2015 and March 28 last year. He represented himself after his solicitor withdrew.