The defendant, who has interim name suppression, is on trial before the Dunedin District Court facing a charge of injuring with reckless disregard, as well as an alternative count of assault.
Last week, the court heard from the child’s mother and a string of medical experts, but this morning the court finally heard from the defendant, albeit indirectly.
Detective Constable Bo Seong Kim was tasked with taking a statement from the man in July 2023, in the days following doctors’ discovery of the infant’s 13 broken ribs and fractured collarbone.
The officer told the court the sportsman voluntarily agreed to discuss the matter and they went back to his home for a conversation.
“I was shocked to hear the news,” the defendant told Det Const Kim.
He and the child’s mother were both “confused” as to how the injuries had been caused.
The defendant told police about performing belly massages on the infant a couple of times, which left the boy “calm and relaxed”.
At the outset of the trial, the Crown outlined the allegation, that the bone breaks were caused by the man while the baby’s mother was at the gym.
The defendant said the child woke about 20 minutes after the woman had left the house.
He described trying to feed him using a bottle but the “cranky” child became upset.
He also detailed three different burping techniques he tried, without success.
“I got upset, put [the child] down in the bassinet and called [his mother] for help,” the defendant said.
She returned shortly afterwards and previously told the jury she had no issue calming her infant.
It was two days later when the mother felt a popping in her son’s chest and was referred to the emergency department.
The defendant recalled her distressed state over the phone when the news of the fractures was delivered.
“How could I not know this? How could I let this happen to him?” the mother said.
The defendant told Det Const Kim there was no incident he could think of that would explain the severity of the child’s injuries.
Paediatric radiologist Dr Susan Craw said the baby’s presentation was unusual in that “the funny crackling feeling” in his chest was not immediately attributed to rib breaks.
She said the initial x-rays gave a suspicion of that, but it was an ultrasound that turned up the totality of the injuries.
The crackling feeling, Dr Craw said, was the ends of the ribs grating against each other.
In cross-examination, the woman said in 40 years of work she had never seen or heard of fractures being displaced during radiological procedures.
“I’d be concerned if that was happening,” she said.
