A SIX-month-old baby was found to have 18 broken bones and two dislocated joints when she was taken to hospital, the High Court in Aberdeen was told yesterday.
Dr Elizabeth Stockdale, who examined the child, said the injuries were consistent with a bad road accident or being trampled by a horse. She said two fractures, to the infant's head and ribs, were potentially life-threatening.
The consultant radiologist said most of the injuries were consistent with twisting, severe shaking, or snapping of the bones and, she believed, were all deliberate.
She was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Lewis Wildgoose, who denies assaulting the baby to her severe injury and danger of her life.
Mr Wildgoose, 22, of Roslin Terrace, Aberdeen, is charged with assaulting the girl by compressing her body, swinging her about, dropping her to the ground, and pushing and pulling her, over a three-month period.
He has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming the child's mother for the injuries.
The court was told the girl, who was born on Christmas Eve 1994, was taken to Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, in June 1995, by her mother and grandmother, suffering from an arm injury.
Dr Stockdale, 50, said the baby was X-rayed the following day as the medical team were suspicious of how she had been hurt.
She told the trial before Lord Ross, the Lord Justice Clerk, that the X-rays showed the child had broken bones the entire length of her body - from her skull to her ankles.
She had also suffered two dislocations - one to an elbow and one to an ankle, she said. Some of the injuries were recent, while others were up to four weeks old.
Of the skull injury, she said: ``I consider this to be an extensive fracture. If you have more than one fracture to the head you would consider it to be a serious fracture. A severe blow to the head could have caused it.''
Dr Stockdale added that the baby must have been ``compressed from the front to the back'' to break four ribs.
She told advocate-depute Scott Brady that the skull and rib injuries were potentially life-threatening.
Mr Brady asked: ``Would these have been a deliberate attempt to hurt the child?''
``Indeed,'' replied Dr Stockdale.
The trial continues.
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