North Lanarkshire man jailed for drunkenly dropping baby

A careless drunk was jailed for more than a year after he fell while carrying five-week old baby in a car seat causing serious injuries then lied to the child’s mum.

30 year-old Steven Whiteford downed beer and buckfast and carried the baby boy strapped in his seat into the kitchen for more booze.

But while walking back into the living room at the house in Twechar, North Lanarkshire, Whiteford tripped and thinks he landed on the car seat, injuring the baby.

The child’s mother was upstairs in the house and heard the baby scream and when asked Whiteford if he had done anything he replied “I can’t believe you would ask me that.”

The baby was taken to hospital where he was found to be suffering from blood clots outside of the brain and bruises on his face.

Whiteford, from Kilsyth, Glasgow pled guilty at the city’s sheriff court to culpably and recklessly, while under the influence of alcohol, failing to take reasonable care of the child whereby he sustained severe injuries - the cause of them is unknown, on July 28, last year.

Jailing him for 14 months, Sheriff Paul Crozier said: “You failed to get help for that child when that child was injured.

“You denied responsibility for the matter and only some time later you accepted your responsibility.”

The court heard Whiteford was at a friend’s house before they were due to attend a wedding.

He helped to feed the baby before handing him back to his mum who thought she could smell beer.

She asked Whiteford if he had spilled any on him but he said no, and didn’t mention drinking earlier.

Procurator fiscal depute Lindsay Madden said the baby’s mum strapped her son into his car seat and went to brush her teeth.

She said: “At this time Whiteford was sitting in the living room on the right hand side of the sofa and (the baby) was in his car seat on the laminate floor in front of him.

“The woman heard (the baby) give out a loud cry or roar as she finished brushing her teeth so she went through to the living room.”

Mrs Madden said the mum saw blood in the baby’s mouth and cleaned him then phoned NHS24 and was advised to take him to hospital.

She added: “While on the phone she asked Whiteford if he had done something to (the baby).

“He looked shocked by this and said ‘I can’t believe you would ask me that’ and ‘I would never do something like that’.”

The baby’s mum took others to the wedding. Whiteford asked to be taken home and refused to go to the hospital.

She then took the baby to Stobhill before going to Royal Hospital for Children where the child had a CT scan that showed various areas of blood clots outside the brain.

A further examination showed bruises on his face and a scratch on the inner corner of his lower lip with evidence of previous bleeding.

The consultant neurosurgeon confirmed there was no need for any surgical intervention and advised the baby could be put on to four hourly observations.

An MRI in October showed the haemorrhages and gone and there were no further sign of abnormalities. He has fully recovered since.

Initially Whiteford told police on the morning of the incident he went to a pub in Cambuslang for a couple of hours where he drank cider before going home, then to his friend’s house.

He said he bought more beer and drank it as he got ready for the wedding and was in the kitchen at his friend’s house when he heard the baby screaming.

Mrs Madden said the following month Whiteford told another friend that he must have “done something”, that he must have dropped the baby and was “riddled with guilt”.

He was later detained and interviewed by police and admitted he was drunk while in his friend’s house after drinking beer and buckfast, and that he continued to drink beer.

The prosecutor told the court: “He said he walked, carrying the car seat, to the kitchen for a drink of vodka from the fridge.

“The accused said he put the car seat with (the baby) in it on to the ground for a few seconds while he did this.

“He thereafter described that he picked up the car seat again to make his way back to the living room.

“He went on to say that he then tripped and fell on to the floor while carrying the child in the car seat. He could not recall exactly how he landed or how the car seat landed.

“He told police he believed that he may have landed on to the car seat and in some way suggested that to be cause of (the baby’s) injuries.”

And, that the child’s mother challenged him but he didn’t want to admit what happened and instead wanted to go home to drink more.

Defence lawyer Marisa Borland said he is “truly remorseful for the events that day” and said that Whiteford has a deep rooted alcohol problem.

She said “He feels he requires to be punished for what happened.