A man who shook his baby son who was crying, leaving him suffering from shaken baby syndrome, has been given an 18-month suspended prison sentence by Judge Alice Doyle at Wexford Circuit Court.
The defendant, who cannot be named by order of the court, pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting, ill-treating, abandoning or exposing a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to the child's health or seriously affect his wellbeing, on October 28th, 2004.
The court heard the accused man was in a relationship. In the early hours of the morning on the date in question, their baby son, who was less than two months old, was brought to Waterford Regional Hospital after the emergency services had been called.
The child was in shock having suffered bruising on the left cheekbone. He was haemorrhaging at the back of both eyes while two sets of ribs were fractured. A CT scan showed the baby was bleeding at the side of the skull with blood showing on a portion of the brain. A doctor described what occurred as "shaken baby syndrome".
Medical staff alerted the gardaí and the accused was arrested at Waterford Regional Hospital. At the time he said it was an accident and he did not mean to do it.
The court heard the baby developed seizures in the hospital on the day he was admitted and there was concern as to whether he would survive, but gradually his condition improved and he had made a full recovery.