Dunedin court hears closing arguments in case of prominent sportsman accused of injuring baby

A Dunedin sportsman is accused of breaking his baby’s ribs in a moment of frustration. Photo / by George Heard

By Tess Brunton of RNZ

Warning – this story contains details of family violence.

A prominent sportsman broke a baby’s ribs and collarbone by recklessly squeezing him in “pure frustration” after the little boy failed to settle, a Dunedin court has heard.

The man, who has name suppression, is on trial accused of injuring with reckless disregard, with an alternative charge of assault in a family relationship.

In closing arguments at the Dunedin District Court on Friday, the Crown alleged the man lost patience with the unsettled baby in July 2023 while the infant’s mother was at the gym, squeezing or crushing him and causing more than a dozen rib fractures and a broken collarbone.

His defence said the man would never risk the safety of a child and insisted there were other ways the baby could have been hurt, including a severe vitamin D deficiency, birth injuries or underlying bone fragility.

Prosecutor Robin Bates told the court that the medical evidence and experts showed the man inflicted the baby’s injuries, even if it was unintentional.

The household had been under stress in the weeks beforehand, the baby was difficult, not settling or feeding, and his mother could not get away to take time for herself because the man could not settle the child, Bates said.

She arrived home early from the gym to find the man sitting in the corner with his head in his hands, clearly upset, the prosecutor said.

Bates said the Crown alleged that the man had tried everything to settle the baby to no avail. He got angry, picked the child up and gave him a squeeze “in pure frustration” after he momentarily lost the plot.

“All it would take is that one squeeze,” the lawyer said.

“We say it was a squeeze because of the nature and location of the fractures ... large hands, a small baby.”

Bates said the Crown’s paediatric radiology expert, Starship hospital’s Dr Russell Metcalfe, told the court that the vertical line of injuries, all one after another, were important because they indicated a child had been grasped and squeezed.

He dismissed the defence’s alternative suggestion that the boy could have been injured during birth, saying it was not a reasonable conclusion.

Evidence from the experienced midwife involved in the birth showed she did a complete physical check after he was born, and there was no indication he was in any pain or had any breaks, the prosecutor said.

Bates said the midwife checked again when the infant was 1 week old and found he was fine, but a bit grizzly and not settling well.

Some babies were like that, and there was nothing to suggest there were any birth injuries, Bates said.

He challenged the evidence given by the defence’s expert witness, Dr Douglas Benson, an orthopaedic surgeon and expert in metabolic bone conditions, who said he was certain the infant’s fractured ribs were a birth injury and did not heal because of the baby’s vitamin-D deficiency.

Bates said Benson described unrestrained, compulsive pushing during labour, when it was a quick birth with two large contractions, two pushes and the baby was born.

It sounded as if he were looking at someone else’s birthing record and completely ignored the radiological evidence, Bates said.

The prosecutor also called into question the suggestion that the baby’s mother could have rolled on to him in bed and caused the injuries, saying it was not a reasonable conclusion.

There were dozens of cases that showed that if that had happened, the baby would have died, Bates said.

The defence was expected to give its closing address on Friday afternoon.

– RNZ