Married couple accused of inflicting horrific injuries on 13-day-old baby boy

A court has heard about horrific injuries suffered by a 13-day-old baby boy, whose parents stand accused of being responsible.

The couple appeared at Southport District Court. Picture: Scott Fletcher.

A MARRIED couple have been accused of inflicting horrendous injuries on their baby boy when he was just 13 days old.

The helpless infant was diagnosed with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain after suffering through unexplained events in 2014.

The incident came after the father of the boy was convicted of assaulting his baby girl in 2012 when she was only 14 days old, Southport District Court was told.

The pair faced the court on Wednesday, pleading not guilty to cruelty and grievous bodily harm, alleged to have occurred between September 29 and October 13, 2014.

The pair will protest their innocence in a trial which started today and is expected to continue for more than four weeks, including at least 15 witnesses.

Accompanied by supporters outside court, the couple appeared nervous as they waited for the trial to begin.

The couple cannot legally be named to protect the identity of their son.

The couple pictured outside court in Southport.

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Prosecutor Matthew Hynes told a jury of seven men and seven women either the father or the mother – a childcare worker – were to blame for the infant’s shocking injuries, which required emergency brain surgery.

“They decided, one of them, to abuse him and effectively destroyed half his brain,” he alleged.

“Without surgery, it’s unlikely (the infant) would have survived.”

Mr Hynes told the jury about the father’s prior conviction, but said in relation to the current case “both didn’t do it – it was one or the other”.

“Your job is to decide which one,” he said.

Mr Hynes said the father told police he “accidentally dropped his son”, while the mother told her mother-in-law “she threw the baby on the bed and he bounced off the bed into a window frame”.

The trial continues.