Medics found baby lifeless and pale, trial of Gravesend man Nathan Rawling hears
by Keith Hunt
Hospital staff have told of the moment a badly injured baby was
taken into the accident and emergency department after an alleged
assault.
Health care assistant Angela Sedge said the month-old boy was in
a car seat when he arrived at Darent Valley Hospital on the morning
of December 1 2011.
As the child was picked up, he "gave out like a big sigh", Mrs
Sedge told Maidstone Crown Court. "We were kind of confused because
of the way the baby presented.
"He was, for want of a better word, lifeless. He was pale, a
light creamy colour. We knew it was something serious from the way
the baby presented."
Also present in the triage room was staff nurse Bridget
Crisp.
"We kind of looked at each other and gestured," said Mrs Sedge.
"We knew we would have to go into resus (resuscitation). The staff
nurse said, 'We need to go now.'
"We went into the resuscitation area. We put a call out for the
paediatric resuscitation team. The baby was lying on the trolley.
We proceeded to CPR.
"I don't know if the baby had a heartbeat. The baby was not
breathing."
The jury has heard the boy had "a particularly shocking injury"
to his penis, caused by pulling or twisting.
"The baby's penis was completely blue, purple, bruised," said
Mrs Sedge.
"He was pale, a light creamy colour. We knew it was something serious...” – medic Angela Sedge
"Doctors arrived and became involved. I think the baby was
intubated."
Nathan Rawling, 36, formerly of St Gregory's Crescent,
Gravesend, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The 36-year-old former KCC electrician, who has a bail address
in Snodland, is alleged to have inflicted multiple injuries on the
boy in a "frenzied, brutal and repeated assault" that left him
close to death.
The baby, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered
26 fractures to ribs, fractures to both collarbones and a “spiral”
break to the right arm.
Trauma to the chest punctured both lungs leading to a heart
attack and stopping breathing.
John O'Higgins, prosecuting, said there was no doubt the
tot was at the point of death and only the skill of medical staff
saved his life.
Rawling, he said, at first claimed he could have caused the
injuries to the chest while carrying out cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and said the broken arm could have happened
when he grabbed the baby to restart it.
He also claimed the injury to the child's penis was caused when
he accidentally knelt on it.
Nathan Rawling is on
trial at Maidstone Crown Court
But Mr O'Higgins said: "We suggest the baby weed over him and
that he caused that terrible injury to his penis as a result."
After hearing medical experts rejected his explanation, said Mr
O'Higgins, he changed his defence to claim the injuries musts have
been inflicted by somebody else.
"It could only have been done to cause really serious harm,"
said the prosecutor. "It may be he did try to save the baby and
perform CPR, but if so it was because only moments before he had
almost killed (the child)."
21/01/13
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