KEY POINTS:
The first doctor to see the Kahui twins realised one of them had such serious head injuries he asked the babies' parents if they had been dropped on their heads, a High Court jury heard yesterday.
Dr Gopinath Nayar, the Kahui family GP, said that after a brief
examination he quickly discovered the boys had injuries "that were beyond the scope of simple treatment".
Chris Kahui is on trial for the murder of his 3-month-old sons Chris and Cru Kahui.
The Crown alleges Kahui was the only one who could have hurt the twins. The defence case is that their mother, Macsyna King, had time to inflict the fatal injuries that killed them five days after they were admitted to Starship hospital in June 2006.
Dr Nayar asked Kahui and Ms King if the twins were dropped on their heads and they replied a "definite no".
He put the question "bluntly" to the couple after shining a light in baby Chris' eyes and noting an "abnormal" response from his pupils.
"It was clear he was neurologically very unwell," Dr Nayar said.
He didn't want to challenge either parent on what happened, but told a paediatrician at Middlemore Hospital he suspected a non-accidental injury in one of them.
Dr Nayar said that conversation did not take place in front of Kahui or Ms King.
Baby Cru was also showing signs of respiratory distress and he told Kahui and Ms King that both babies needed to be taken to hospital immediately.
"My main priority was to get them to hospital in a timely manner," he told Crown prosecutor Simon Moore.
Mr Moore: "Was there anything about either parent's body language that seemed unusual?"
The doctor replied both appeared calm.
Earlier, a former nurse described told how she watched an "elated" Ms King walk into hospital "swinging" the twins in their baby capsules.
Claire Dillon, a former nurse at Kids First hospital, said she saw Ms King swinging the baby capsules with each arm after she arrived at the emergency department seeking help for the babies.
When asked by Crown lawyer Simon Mount about Ms King's attitude when she arrived at hospital, Ms Dillon said she appeared "elated" and showed no signs of distress at all.
"She was very easy to talk to, not at all distressed and answered questions freely," she said.
As she examined the babies Ms Dillon noticed bruises on both their faces.
She said they were obviously recent bruises that covered the length of their faces.
When she asked Ms King how the bruises came about she told her their 1-year-old son had leaned through the twins' cot and bashed their heads together.
The babies went into seizure and stared blankly at Ms Dillon.
Cru made no noise but Chris let out a small cry when he was placed on a table in the resuscitation room.
