Bruising represented a "classic text book" picture of baby shaking, consultant tells childminder trial

A consultant paediatrician has given evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in the trial of a childminder charged with assaulting a baby. Sandra Higgins, aged 34, of The Beeches, Drumgola Wood, Cavan town, has pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to a ten-month-old child in her care on 28 March 2012. Dr Christopher James Hobbs told the court that bruising to the infant's back and ear represented a "classic textbook picture" consistent with violent shaking. He noted that bruising in such locations is unusual in accidental injury but common in non-accidental cases. A defence witness, Dr Julie Mack, a paediatric radiologist, countered that bleeding identified on brain scans resulted from rupture of a smaller blood vessel rather than the larger vessels typically associated with shaken baby syndrome. The trial before Judge Patricia Ryan continues with a jury of twelve.