The defendant - whose name is suppressed - pleaded not guilty to injuring with reckless disregard and an alternative charge of assault in a family relationship at the outset of today’s trial at the Dunedin District Court.
The Crown, in its opening address, told the jury the man applied a “crushing” force to cause at least 12 rib fractures and a broken collarbone, most likely in a moment of frustration with the unsettled child in July 2023.
But counsel Anne Stevens, KC, said there was no evidence of an assault, and there were other explanations for the child’s injuries including a severe vitamin-D deficiency which could have resulted in bone weakness.
The baby’s mother was in the witness box this afternoon when she described the first time she discovered a “crackling or popping” sound in her infant son’s chest.
The next day doctors found up to eight rib fractures, and the following week the diagnosis was worse.
The woman recalled being under 24-hour watch in her room as family-protection protocols were sparked.
In her first police statement, she said she could think of no incident in which the severe injuries could have been caused.
The next month, however, she gave a video statement to police after a discussion with a fracture expert.
That doctor had asked her whether she had co-slept with the baby and said the pattern of injuries indicated she could have rolled on him.
“It’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense,” the mother said. “We've gone over and over everything.”
She stressed to police the co-sleeping was not a choice.
“The first night I remember crying because it was too dangerous... He wouldn’t sleep next to me, he had to sleep on me,” the woman told the detective.
“If I could have put him in the bassinet, I would have.”
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said the child, born in 2023, had been a “difficult baby”, suffering wind, constipation and sleep issues.
On July 16 that year, the boy’s mother went to the gym, leaving the defendant in sole care, the court heard.
She cut her session short when she received a phone call from the man saying he was unable to settle the boy, and she returned to find her son crying in his bassinet and the defendant in another part of the room.
Mr Smith said medical experts would give evidence during the trial that the injuries would have been caused by force, rather than by accident or by the child’s low bone density from vitamin-D deficiency.
While the defendant was under investigation, police covertly intercepted his communications and the prosecutor said at least one of his calls would be played for the jury.
Mrs Stevens said fractures in infants were not evidence of abuse, only potentially cause for suspicion - “and suspicion does not equal guilt”.
She told the court the defence would be calling expert medical witnesses of their own who would cast doubt on the Crown’s theory.
“There are several other possible explanations for these fractures,” Mrs Stevens said.
“Not a great deal of force is required to cause rib fractures in babies.”
The trial, before Judge David Robinson, is scheduled to run for at least two weeks.
