Tiaan Burger murder committal told of ‘classic case’ of shaken baby syndrome

The committal hearing of a man accused of murdering his infant son has been told the boy’s injuries had the hallmarks of shaken baby syndrome.

Tiaan Burger outside Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NCA NewsWire

A forensic pathologist who examined the body of four-month-old Gladstone boy Finnick Burger believes the baby died from injuries caused by being shaken.

At the committal hearing of Finnick’s father Tiaan Burger – who was charged with the murder of his son in January 2020 – Rohan Samarasinghe rejected the proposition that the child’s injuries, which included rib fractures and a catastrophic brain injury, could have been caused by him falling from a height.

Under cross-examination in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, Dr Samarasinghe described Finnick’s injuries as a classic example of a baby being shaken.

Finnick died on January 15, 2020, his injuries including posterior rib fractures, bruises and a brain injury.

“To me there is no other explanation than squeezing causing those injuries as well as explain the internal injuries,” Dr Samarasinghe said of the fractures to the baby’s ribs.

Defence lawyer Brendan Ryan put to the witness that he had not looked for anything else other than shaken baby syndrome.

“Well we consider all the aspects,” Dr Samarasinghe said.

“The injuries are consistent with a shaken baby in this case, if you take a whole picture of the injuries this is a very classic one.”

Fennick Burger died on January 15, 2020.

Mr Ryan asked: “When you looked at the brain you thought this is a shaken baby case?”

“It is, sorry,” the pathologist replied.

Mr Ryan asked the witness if Finnick’s injuries could have been caused by him falling to the ground from the height of a baby change table.

Dr Samarasinghe said he had “never ever” seen fractures like the ones Finnick suffered in a case of a fall like Mr Ryan proposed.

“Absolutely unlikely,” he said.

“That’s my experience.

“But this pattern is totally inconsistent with falling from a reasonable height.”

Mr Ryan also put to the doctor that the location of bruises on Finnick’s body were “inconsistent” with him being compressed by a man’s hands but Dr Samarasinghe rejected that, saying the bruising “wouldn’t necessarily” be as the lawyer proposed.

The court heard Finnick had an “unremarkable” physical examination with his doctor on January 9, days before he died.

Asked how long it would take for symptoms to present if he had been shaken, Dr Samarasinghe said it could be anywhere from immediately to days.

The day that an ambulance was called, Finnick’s mother reported him crying in an uncharacteristic “screech” and shortly after he went into a comatose state.

At the end of the evidence, Mr Ryan conceded there was a prima facie case against his client.

Burger was committed to stand trial for murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court at a date to be set.