Rodney Clough pleads not guilty to criminal neglect and causing harm to nephew ‘Little Jimmy’
The man accused of submerging his nephew in boiling water has pleaded not guilty, as his partner and mother of the boy supported him in court.
North & North East
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The man accused of submerging his nephew in boiling water will face trial, as his partner and mother of the boy hurried from court after supporting him.
Rodney David Clough, 40, has denied neglecting the two-year-old boy after doctors found he was severely bruised, burned and had meth in his urine.
Andrew Williams, for Mr Clough, told the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday his client, who was appearing by audio-visual link from custody, would be pleading not guilty to criminal neglect and causing harm with intent.
“That’s not Rodney,” Emma Short, Mr Clough’s partner, piped up from the gallery.
Mr Williams said the man on screen looked similar but Mr Clough was bald and had a beard.
After a changeover, Mr Clough appeared on screen and his not guilty pleas were confirmed.
Mr Clough, 41, was arrested in August last year alongside Ms Short after she took her son to a doctor’s surgery at Blair Athol wrapped in a towel and covered in burns.
Little Jimmy was then rushed to hospital where a forensic paediatrician found it was not just burns he was covered with, but bruises as well.
A test of his urine found he also had meth in his system.
The paediatrician also ruled the burns to Little Jimmy’s body were likely inflicted by being submerged in boiling water.
Little Jimmy spent 10 days in intensive care at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital before eventually being discharged.
The court previously heard Mr Clough and Ms Short, who are brother and sister-in-law, were in a relationship at the time of the allegations.
As at the start of November, the court heard investigations were continuing into whether the boy had sustained any long-term brain injuries as a result of a lack of oxygen being delivered to his brain while he was submerged.
Prosecutors dropped all charges against Ms Short in December and a previous ban on her seeing her son was cancelled.
At the time, David Moen, for Ms Short, said his client had been subjected to a virtual witchhunt by the press.
On Thursday, Magistrate Simon Smart committed Mr Clough to the District Court for arraignment in July.
Outside court, Mr Williams did not make a comment to waiting media and Ms Short left in a hurry and hid her face with papers.
*The Advertiser has chosen to use a pseudonym for the alleged victim.
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