Baby injured 'like a car crash victim', trial told

A four-week-old baby allegedly shaken to death by his father had injuries consistent with a fall from a height or a road traffic collision, a court has heard.

Tony Bartlett, of Axminster in Devon, is accused of fatally shaking his son Atticus to death at home in Chard, Somerset, on 16 July 2022 after a night out with his partner. Atticus died in hospital seven days later.

Bartlett, 39, is on trial at Bristol Crown Court charged with manslaughter and murder. He denies both charges.

Paediatric neurosurgeon Amedeo Calisto, who examined the baby's injuries, told the court that Atticus suffered "extensive" bleeding to the brain.

Calisto explained the baby had "very significant abnormalities affecting various areas of the brain".

He added: "The injuries have likely all occurred at the same time as a result of the same cause.

"It's rare that we see all these injuries at the same time and there's no natural condition that causes them. That's why I am grouping them together."

Calisto said minor trauma, for example caused by a child falling from a standing height from a surface such as a kitchen counter top, would cause only a small amount of bleeding.

Charles Row KC, prosecuting, said: "So a road traffic accident or a fall from a multi-story building can cause extensive sub-dural bleeding of the type that we have in Atticus?"

"Yes," Calisto replied.

As well as a bleed on the brain, Atticus also suffered rib fractures, damage to the optic nerve and damage to his retinas.

Calisto ruled out the chance that Atticus could have choked on milk which could have caused asphyxiation, adding there was "never any evidence the lungs were filled with milk".

He added that a gentle shake to try and revive a child struggling to breathe would not have caused the injuries found in Atticus.

The court previously heard that the evening of the alleged assault was the first time the couple had been on a night out together since Atticus's birth.

Bartlett had consumed up to nine pints of beer on the night in question, the jury has been told.

Upon returning home, the baby's mother, Evelyn Ballentyne, was upstairs while Bartlett fed the child.

She said she came downstairs to see him making "gasping noises".

The jury has been told Bartlett claims any non-accidental injury suffered by Atticus must have been caused by Ballentyne.

The trial continues.

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