Baby fatally injured 'long before 999 call'

A BABY girl's fatal injuries were inflicted one to two hours before a 999 call for an ambulance, a leading neurosurgeon has told a murder trial.

Conor Malluchi was giving evidence at the trial of Craig Jamieson, who denies murdering four-month-old daughter Abbie at the family home in Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, on 8 February, 2008.

Mr Malluchi, 44, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool and an expert on children's head injuries, told the High Court in Glasgow that the fatal blow or blows to Abbie were struck a few hours before the ambulance arrived at 12:15pm that day.

He said: "My view would be she would be traumatised within hours and that is one or two hours prior to her death."

He said that to all intents and purposes Abbie was dead when the ambulance arrived, although paramedics and doctors at Yorkhill hospital fought for almost six hours to try to save her.

He also said that, in his opinion, Abbie had been physically abused from at least Christmas 2007, when she was three months old.

The jury heard his view was based on medical reports and what Jamieson had said about what happened to Abbie on the morning she died. In statements to police, paramedics and a doctor, he spoke of waking Abbie at about 9:15am and feeding her. He said that later in the morning, she became white and floppy, and he called an ambulance.

Prosecutor Lesley Shand, QC, asked Mr Malluchi if Abbie could have been injured before her mother, Nichola Haddock, left for Caledonian University at about 7:45am. He replied: "I don't think it is feasible. It is not a scenario I think is possible." He thought it unlikely Abbie had sustained her injuries before being fed.

Ronnie Watson, QC, defending, asked Mr Malluchi: "Is the father's account possible that the child was injured before he woke up?" He said: "It think it is unlikely."

Mr Watson said: "That must leave a possibility that it is possible?" Mr Malluchi replied: "Yes, it's possible."

The consultant went on: "This was a trauma which killed her. Fatal trauma to the abdomen and skull does not result in a normally handled child."

Rick Turnock, 54, a consultant paediatric surgeon at Alder Hey, examined the abdominal injury suffered by Abbie and said she would have been in severe pain, inconsolable and unwilling to feed. He said older children with similar injuries often required morphine to deal with the pain.

Mr Turnock said the injuries to Abbie's abdomen would require "a significant degree of blunt force trauma to the mid-abdomen". He said this type of injury was uncommon and usually suffered by older children in a car crash, or by falling from a height or on to a bike's handlebars.

Ms Shand asked if Jamieson's account of Abbie taking porridge and a bottle of milk would be consistent with her having suffered an abdominal injury. Mr Turnock replied: "No. Once she suffered this injury, I find it inconceivable she would appear normal. I find it inconceivable she would be able to take porridge or milk."

Jamieson, 30, of Summerhill Place, Glasgow, is accused of murdering Abbie by inflicting blunt force trauma to her head and body. He is also charged with assaulting her to her severe injury the previous month. He denies both charges and has lodged a special defence blaming Abbie's mother.

The trial continues.