A 31-year-old man accused of seriously assaulting his six-month-old baby daughter told gardaí he had dropped her twice but never shook her, his trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard today.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his child, pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm, assault causing serious harm, and cruelty to his daughter on various dates from 25 November 2020 to January 2021, when the trial before Judge Dermot Sheehan and a jury of seven women and five men opened in Cork last week.
Today, transcripts of two interviews given under caution by the baby's father to gardaí were read to the jury by prosecuting counsel Jane Hyland, SC.
In them, the accused accepted, following his arrest in 23 March 2021, that he had told social workers that he had shaken his infant daughter.
But he said he had never shaken her, and had only told the social workers that he had because his partner's parents told him that if he did not accept responsibility for the baby's injuries, both he and his partner would be sent to jail and they would lose custody of their child.
He told gardaí during the interview that he had dropped the baby twice - once when she was being winded and she was on his shoulder, and the second time when he was going up the stairs.
He said the first time she toppled over his shoulder and onto a couch before falling onto the floor.
The second time he dropped her when he was walking up the stairs wearing slippers.
"I tripped on the top step, she was lying across my arms and she came out of my arms and fell onto the landing".
On both occasions he did not tell his partner about the fall because he did not think there was anything wrong with the baby and he did not want his partner or others to think he was incapable of looking after her.
The trial previously heard from Consultant Paediatrician Dr Rosina McGovern, who examined the baby on 4 January 2021, at Cork University Hospital.
She told the court that she believed the injuries amounted "to serious harm".
These included bruises on her face, cheek, stomach, abdomen and right buttock as well as abrasions on her left temporal area, her cheek and nose as well as a broken collarbone and evidence of bleeding on the brain, which was suggestive of abusive head trauma.
In the memos of the interviews with gardaí read into the court record today, the man said he initially told social workers that he had dropped the baby, but then lied about shaking her because he was afraid.
He said he was being told by his partners' parents that he and the baby's mother "would go to prison unless one of us said we shook her".
"I felt I was going to be blamed anyway so I would tell them what they wanted to hear", he told gardaí.
But he said he had told the truth from the start that he had twice dropped the baby accidentally.
"I told the truth from the start. I am not going to take the blame. I don't care if anyone believes me. I just want to get her (the baby) back", he told gardaí.
"I honestly did not do anything to her. I dropped her twice. I said I shook her but I didn't, I swear to God, I didn't do it. I know somebody did shake her but I don't know who. I will maintain my innocence to the day I die, I did not shake that baby."
He told gardaí he knew for a fact that the baby's mother didn't do it, saying: "She is the most sane person I've ever known".
Asked if the baby deserved to know the truth, he replied "100%".
"I did not shake her. I swear I did not shake her", he said.
The trial will resume in the morning.
