Doctor details catastrophic brain injury suffered by five-week-old baby allegedly murdered by her parents in Staffordshire
A baby allegedly murdered by her parents in Staffordshire had suffered a catastrophic brain bleed that could only realistically have been inflicted by a person, a doctor told a court.
Amy Clarke, aged 34 and of Lichfield, and Sean Jefferson, aged 35 and of Walsall, are on trial accused of murdering five-week-old Darcy-Leigh Jefferson, who was found not breathing at an address in Hudson Drive, Burntwood, in March 2022.
The trial at Stafford Crown Court heard on Friday (February 20) from Dr Curtis Offiah, who examined the results of CT scans that were carried out on young Darcy-Leigh in hospital.
Dr Offiah, a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists with expertise in pediatric injuries, was questioned by prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC.
The doctor confirmed he had seen the baby's medical records as well as reports from a number of other doctors who had examined her after she was brought to Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital on March 27.
Mr Sandhu said it was understood that Darcy-Leigh underwent a CT scan just after midday, and he asked Dr Offiah: "Did the scan or the images from the scan show any skull fractures to Darcy?"
Dr Offiah said: "No, they did not."
He was asked if the scan showed any "external injuries" and again replied that it did not.
What the scan did show, he said, was that Darcy-Leigh had suffered a significant subdural haematoma - bleeding beneath the dura, an outer membrane overlying the brain, that can result in life-threatening pressure being exerted on the brain.
"On Darcy's scan there was subdural bleeding overlying both sides of the brain and the top and the bottom parts of the brain," he told the court.
Mr Sandhu asked Dr Offiah: "How is it that blood might get into that subdural space in a child like Darcy?"
The doctor explained that veins in the brain can tear in the event of high-force head injuries and emit blood into the subdural space. He said it was "important to consider the context of Darcy's age," explaining that "pre-ambulatory" babies of Darcy-Leigh's age generally "are not able to generate the type of mechanism of force" required to inflict such injuries, usually involving the head "rocking back and forth or from side to side".
Mr Sandhu asked the doctor if that meant such an injury could generally only be caused by another person, and he agreed that it could.
Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Dr Offiah confirmed he could not be certain how long before she was brought to hospital Darcy-Leigh had suffered the brain injury.
The prosecution alleges Darcy-Leigh suffered the "catastrophic" brain injury after being repeatedly assaulted by her parents and died on March 29.
Jurors previously heard she had also sustained 47 rib fractures and fractures to both legs.
Clarke and Jefferson deny murder. The trial continues.