A third jury has begun hearing the case against a man charged with causing brain damage to a Christchurch toddler.
Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan briefly told the jury empanelled today about the history of the case against the 24-year-old man, which stretches back to October 2006.
"It has never been finally decided by a jury, which was no fault of the crown nor the accused," he said.
The man denies a charge of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to the 17-month-old girl, and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard for her safety.
The names of the man, the girl, her mother, and grandmother have all been suppressed.
Opening the crown case, Anna MacGougan said that the girl arrived at Christchurch Hospital unconscious and very unwell.
She had bleeding on the brain. It would be extremely rare for that to be caused by a fall from a low height, she said.
She also had bleeding at the back of her eyes which was generally a sign of child abuse, and a significant number of bruises on her legs, forehead, upper back and chest including fingermarks which suggested she was forceably grabbed.
She required emergency neuro-surgery and was then transferred to Starship Hospital in Auckland.
The man accused of the injuries had put the child into "time-out" in a bedroom.
When her mother came back into the house the accused was nursing her, and she seemed asleep, but twitching.
Her mother picked her up and her head flopped backwards and she could not be woken up.
When the ambulance arrived she was still unconscious, her breathing was faint and her lips blue.
The girl's mother said in evidence the accused told he found her daughter on the floor, and that she had fallen out of bed.
She rang the ambulance, stripped the child as she was very hot, and put her in the recovery position.
It was then that she noticed three bruises down the side of her daughter's ribcage and one on her chest.
Defence counsel Richard McGuire said the defence would call expert evidence that the injuries to the toddler could have been caused by a fall which had a tragic outcome.
There was no crime involved at all, but rather an accident. Whatever had happened was not the responsibility of the accused.
- NZPA
