Mum tells court man put her baby in a tumble dryer in Arbroath

A mum today wept in the witness box as she told how her friend put her baby in a tumble dryer and switched the machine on - allegedly "endangering her life".

Thomas Dunn went on trial on Monday accused of assaulting the 13-month-old girl at an address in Arbroath.

The child's 19-year-old mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, told how Dunn was a friend - and that though they had been "intimate" they were not in a relationship.

She told how he would help her look after her kids to "give her a break".

The mum said that on one occasion she had visited him with her son and daughter and was washing dishes in the kitchen when he came in carrying the baby.

She said Dunn was playing with her and then joked about putting her in the tumble dryer - but didn't think he was serious.

But moments later she turned her back and heard the machine activate - followed by two loud thumps as the tot was flung about the drum.

Asked by procurator fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie to describe the events, she replied: "I had my back turned and I heard a switch on the wall. I heard a door closing and I heard the rotation.

"I turned around and saw her in it and I ran across to open it up but he got there first and opened it and pulled her out.

"She was screaming. I tried to get her but he wouldn't let me, he just walked out of the room with her. She wouldn’t stop crying.

"I asked him about five times to give her to me, I was trying to be calm, saying please give me her back."

She said Dunn showed no emotion, put the baby's coat on and put her in her buggy.

Asked by the fiscal if she had been involved in putting the baby in the tumble dryer she replied: "No. I would never hurt her."

Asked if she had the baby at any time between when Dunn said he was going to put her in the dryer and when she was in it, she replied: "No."

The woman said she was really angry and just wanted to get out of the house.

Mrs Gillespie said: "But you went back again and left her with him?"

She replied: "I can't explain it, I was really struggling and he supported me."

The teenage mum said Dunn would offer to look after the child to "give me a break, he said it was okay to have a bit of time to myself."

She said she had left the child with him on three occasions and that the final time, on January 8 2018, was for the longest period.

Asked by the prosecutor to describe the events of that day, she told the court she had gone to Dunn's flat around 11am and received a phone call from a female friend asking her to go to hers.

She said "he offered to look after the baby", adding that about half an hour later she got a Facebook message saying the baby had fallen and banged her nose and it was bleeding.

She said: "I got a photo and it didn't look too bad."

Later that day her friend had received a message from Dunn stating that "something urgent" had happened to the baby.

After failing to get hold of him on Facebook messenger, she said she managed to get his phone number from a friend and spoke to him.

She said: "He said he was in an ambulance."

The woman added that Dunn told her the baby had woken from a nap and said her body had gone limp.

At the hospital it was confirmed by doctors that the child had suffered multiple fractures of the skull, a bite mark to the arm and several bruises on her body.

Shown photographs of the injuries, the young mother said the baby did not have the injuries when she left her with Dunn at his flat that day.

Dunn is alleged to have assaulted the baby to her severe injury and to the danger of her life twice in the space of three weeks at an address in Arbroath.

He is further alleged to have repeatedly assaulted another baby over the course of almost three years by putting his hand over the boy's mouth and nose and pinching it, restricting his breathing.

It is first alleged that on various occasions between April 3 2015 and January 8 2018 he assaulted the first child, at a house in Arbroath - from birth to the age of 33 months - by pinching his nose and restricting his breathing.

Then, on an occasion between December 18 2017 and January 8 last year, at the same address, it is alleged that he assaulted the girl, then aged 13 months.

Prosecutors allege that he placed the tot in a tumble dryer and closed the door, causing the machine to activate and the inner drum to rotate to the girl's severe injury and the danger of her life.

A third charge alleges that between those dates Dunn assaulted the same girl by placing his hand over her mouth and restricting her breathing.

He is finally alleged to have again assaulted the girl to her severe injury and the danger of her life on January 8 2018.

Dunn, 25, of Comrie Crescent, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, is said to have repeatedly struck her on the head and body, repeatedly struck her against an unknown object or objects and bit her on the arm.

He denies all the charges, and the trial before Sheriff Alastair Brown and a jury continues.