A Belfast man is to stand trial for allegedly murdering his baby daughter by shaking her.
Christopher O’Neill (25) told Lisburn Magistrates Court he was aware of the single charge and did not object to the committal proceedings.
Mr O’Neill was charged in February 2014 with causing grievous bodily harm to three-month-old Caragh Walsh. The charged was changed to manslaughter when the baby died.
A senior prosecutor in July ordered a further postmortem report be compiled and Mr O’Neill, from the Whiterock Road in Belfast, is now charged with murdering his daughter on February 7th, 2014.
No facts surrounding the death were opened in court on Friday but a prosecuting lawyer submitted that based on the legal papers and statements before the court, there was a prima facie case against O'Neill.
District Judge Rosie Watters returned the case to the Crown Court for trial.
Mr O’Neill’s solicitor has previously said his client was looking after the baby in the flat he shared with her mother Tammy-Louise Walsh when Caragh “became suddenly ill”. In a “panic,” he took steps which he thought were “perfectly reasonable in the circumstances”, his solicitor said.
The couple had been together for 18 months and had only moved into the apartment at Glasvey Park five days before the incident.
Judge Watters released Mr O’Neill on continuing bail and ordered him to appear before Craigavon Crown Court on October 15th for arraignment when the charge will be put to him for the first time.
Following a defence application, the judge granted legal aid and extended it to allow for a senior barrister to be instructed in the case.