Man left a baby with permanent brain damage after attack
25 year old Andrew Morrison admits assaulting the three month old girl at a house in Kilmarnock
A man left a baby with permanent brain damage by shaking her in frustration, a court heard.
25 year old Andrew Morrison was watching the three month old baby when he lost control and severely injured her.
The child's mother later spotted her daughter was making groaning noises and her eyes were rolling backwards and contacted NHS 24, who phoned for an ambulance.
Morrison later confessed to police: “I shook her and I dropped her, I was frustrated”.
The baby, now 15 months, suffered brain injuries that are “permanent and irreversible”, and has been registered as blind.
Morrison, from Kilmarnock pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to assaulting the then-three month old baby by repeatedly shaking her to her severe injury, permanent impairment and the danger of life, on April 19, last year.
The court heard that Morrison was in the company of his own mother for some of the day he was watching the child, then went home alone with her.
When the child's mother later went to his home she saw her baby was “making groaning noises and her eyes were rolling backwards”.
Advocate depute Alison di Rollo told the court the child's mother phoned NHS 24 and staff there phoned an ambulance who took her to hospital.
Ms di Rollo said the baby - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - was “twitching and groaning, consistent with fitting”.
Morrison claimed the child wouldn't take her milk when he tried to feed her and had been making noises.
She was pale and clammy and totally unresponsive when medics saw her.
Morrison asked if the injuries suffered could be caused by a bumpy bus journey or bumping the buggy, but was told that "could not account for the injuries sustained by the child”.
He and the child's mother were put in separate rooms at Yorkhill hospital after she became extremely upset and challenged him about what happened.
Ms di Rollo added: “Once in the other room the accused became increasingly upset and agitated and in the presence of two police officers he stood up and stated 'I shook her and I dropped her, I was frustrated', making a shaking motion with his hands as he did so.”
The court was told “The injuries were life threatening, had the baby not received medical treatment it's likely she would have succumbed to them”.
And that “the injuries to her brain are permanent and irreversible”.
The child has evolving Cerebral palsy and has been registered blind and needs help to be mobile.
Although she suffered fits in the earlier days after the incident, tests did not indicate she had epilepsy but she is assessed as being at risk of developing it.
Since the incident the baby had surgery to insert a feeding tube after episodes of choking during feeds.
Her injuries are expected to have a profound effect on her and will need lifetime support.
Judge Lady Scott QC deferred sentence until next month and continued Morrison's bail.