‘Emotionless’ father continues to deny abusing son

A two-month-old baby could not have sustained a fractured skull and brain bleeds spontaneously; something must have happened to him, said a high court judge.

Judge Eben Jordaan made the remark in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria during cross-examination of a 28-year old Rayton man, who claimed he had nothing to do with the injuries which left his baby son with permanent brain damage.

When the judge asked the father what he thought had happened to his baby son, he shrugged his shoulders and said: “I don’t know”.

The father showed no emotion when asked to look at photos of his baby son’s serious injuries but admitted that he would not have thought the child could survive in that state.

The father and his former girlfriend, 26, have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to murder and severely assaulting their baby son and his twin sister.

The state alleges they had, between October and December 2012, intentionally and repeatedly assaulted the twins, who were born prematurely.

The little boy was rushed to hospital on Christmas morning in 2012 after losing consciousness.

He had to receive emergency surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain, but was left permanently disabled.

The baby boy had numerous bruises, a severe brain injury and a skull fracture. A neurosurgeon described the injuries as similar to those sustained in a car accident.

His twin sister had four fractured ribs and an infection in one of her legs, which had already started to heal.

READ MORE: Assault accused father has ‘no idea’ how son was injured, court hears 

Prosecutor Cornelia Harmzen put it to the father that his son could now have been running around and playing junior rugby, but could not sit, walk or even eat on his own.He could only laugh and cry.

“It infuriates me … One asks questions, but you never confronted anyone. Why? … Did you perhaps shake the baby and hit his head against the wall? Is that what happened?” she asked the father, who answered that he had done nothing to his son.

She said medical evidence showed that the baby must have fractured his skull hours earlier that night, but he insisted he was asleep and knew nothing about his son’s injuries.

He conceded that only he, his girlfriend and his parents had been in the house with the twins that night

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