Millie 'may have been punched or kicked'

Published Thursday, 11 October 2012
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A head injury which caused the death of Baby Millie Martin was not the only non-accidental injury which could have proved fatal for the 15-month-old toddler, a court has heard.

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Dungannon Crown Court heard on Thursday that the infant may also have been "punched or kicked" in the stomach.

Baby Millie's 27-year-old mother Rachael Martin of Main Street, Kesh, and her former boyfriend Barry Michael McCarney, (33) of Woodview Crescent, Trillick, who both deny charges arising from her death.

Consultant Paediatric Radiologist Dr Gail Thornbury, said the severe injury to Baby Millie's abdomen had caused "irreversible damage" to her bowel.

Dr Thornbury said as a result the bowel had lost its blood supply which would have caused the organ to die within a period of six to eight hours.

She said that normally she would have expected to find such injuries as a direct result of road traffic or other such accidents.

In cross-examination from defence QC John McCrudden, for Rachael Martin who denies wilfully neglecting and allowing her death, Dr Thornbury agreed that the injury could have been caused by "someone deliberately punching or kicking" the youngster in the stomach.

The doctor said in the absence of any other fatal injury suffered by Baby Millie, the injury to her bowel, if allowed to remain untreated, would have proved fatal, and she would have died from the "direct result injury".

Dr Thornbury also told the court of finding up to 21 healing or healed fractures, some of which she estimated to have been only ten days old, while others were between two and four weeks old.

Earlier a top eye specialist revealed that Baby Millie would have been blinded by the head injury which eventually caused her death from brain damage on December 11 2009.

Dr John McCarthy, just one of three specialist ophthalmic occular pathologists, who between them have carried out 250 such examinations, claimed the head injuries were non-accidental and in his experience could only have been caused by "significant head trauma".

The former Home Office doctor, told prosecution QC Ciaran Murphy that Baby Millie would have lost her vision "immediately" after the blow to her head.

However under cross examination by defence QC Elis McDermott for McCarney, who denies murdering and physically and sexually abusing Baby Millie, Dr McCarthy agreed that in his report, he estimated the maximum time, prior to death, that the eye injury could have been caused was between 48 and 72 hours.

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