Doctor said it was ‘dangerous' to discuss baby's injuries, sportsman's trial hears

RNZ News

7 hours ago

By Rob Kidd of
Photo:
RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A doctor said it was "dangerous" to be discussing a child's serious injuries during an intercepted phone call with the boy's mother.
The man accused of inflicting more than a dozen rib fractures and a broken collarbone in July 2023 is a
prominent sportsman, who has name suppression
.
He is on trial before the Dunedin District Court facing charges of injuring with reckless disregard and an alternative charge of assault.
The court heard that shortly after the infant was diagnosed with an array of serious injuries, police began listening in to the phone calls of those allegedly involved.
One conversation involved the mother of the baby speaking with a fracture specialist, whose identity is suppressed.
He suggested the child's injuries might have been caused by the mother rolling on to him while asleep.
"You could argue, plausibly, he might have had a good night, you fell into such a deep sleep and you rolled over and crushed him accidentally," the man said.
"You'd have to have a story that would support that. Everything you'd say would need to be consistent. It's dangerous for me to be talking to you and putting ideas in your head."
The doctor later added: "I can't be seen to influence what you say. We'd all get in big trouble and the police would not look at that favourably."
The jury also heard another phone call between the defendant and the baby's mother.
The two and a-half minute conversation began with them speaking of their respective plans, but the defendant said he was reluctant to discuss his news further.
"The police might, like, tap our phones," the man said.
The baby's mother yesterday said they had been told at the time that phone-tapping was a possibility.
"By this stage, we noticed police were grossly twisting everything we said out of context," she said.
Crown prosecutor Robin Bates focused on the sequence of events around the alleged child abuse.
The mother had gone to the gym on the morning of July 16, 2023, leaving the defendant alone with the infant, the court heard.
It was then, the Crown alleged, that the man squeezed the child's torso, causing the extensive fractures.
The mother said she returned home less than an hour later to find the baby crying in a bassinet and the defendant with his head in his hands, frustrated he could not settle the boy.
She stressed there was no obvious change in her son's unsettled behaviour in the two days between then and his admission to hospital.
The hospital visit only occurred because she began to hear a "crackling" sound in the boy's chest, which prompted a trip to the urgent doctor who referred them on to the emergency department.
The baby's mother was interviewed by police in August 2023, a recording of which was played in court yesterday morning.
At the conclusion of the three-hour discussion, Detective Todd Balogh said he did not believe the child had been hurt intentionally, but thought the defendant had "done something to him".
"He's potentially sitting on the biggest secret he's ever had," Detective Balogh said.
But the woman refused to accept the boy had been the victim of abuse.
"I don't believe at all [the defendant] has hurt him, whether it's intentional or unintentional. He's not that type of person at all ... he wouldn't be able to live with himself," she said.
"You know when you have that gut feeling? I just know he hasn't hurt him. It's just not his character."
Detective Balogh told the mother scans showing the baby's fractured ribs and collarbone had been sent to Starship Hospital for a second opinion.
Experts there opined the injuries were "almost certainly the result of abusive trauma", he said.
But counsel Anne Stevens, KC, told the jury at the trial's outset that medical experts would outline alternative explanations for the baby's injuries.
The trial is expected to continue for more than two weeks.
This story was first published by the
Otago Daily Times
.