Braiden Shane Spinks, 30, found not guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, grievous bodily harm of three-month-old boy

After a lengthy two-week trial, the jury has returned a verdict in the case of a man accused of shaking a three-month-old child.

Braiden Shane Spinks outside Warwick District Court on August 20, 2024.

The trial of a man accused of causing injury to a baby while alone for a matter of minutes has reached a bombshell verdict.

In the span of minutes while unattended, Braiden Shane Spinks was accused of shaking a three-month-old baby, resulting in “serious injury”.

The Crown alleged Mr Spinks caused bleeding in the child’s brain and brain tissue.

Mr Spinks was charged with one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm and grievous bodily harm and pleaded not guilty in Warwick District Court on August 19 at the first day of his trial before a jury and Judge Suzanne Sheridan.

During the first week of the trial, the Crown began its case by calling several family members and responders to give evidence in court. It is understood several medical experts will be called from August 27 to give evidence.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2024

Following a mammoth two-week trial in Warwick District Court, the jury has delivered a verdict in the trial of Braiden Shane Spinks.

Mr Spinks, 30, pleaded not guilty on August 19 to one charge each of assault occasioning bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

Shortly after 3pm on Friday, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on both counts.

Mr Spinks was acquitted on both charges by Judge Suzanne Sheridan, while a small group of supporters sat in the public bay.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2024

‘We simply don’t know’

As the lengthy two-week trial against a man accused of shaking a baby reaches the pointy end, both legal parties have had the opportunity to sum up their cases.

Mr Spinks faces two charges, assault occasioning bodily harm and grievous bodily harm relating to two alleged incidents in 2020, he has plead not guilty to both charges.

Defence barrister Jessica Goldie began her address to the jury by summing up the timeline of major events, from February 2020 with the birth of the child to June 8, 2020, where the final shaking offence is alleged to have occured.

“I can understand why someone, out of a lack of sleep and frustration, would shake a baby, and I think the tragedy of these sorts of cases is that it can come from sleep deprivation and not some heinous person that hates babies,” Ms Goldie said.

“However, Braidon (Spinks) was not the sleep deprived person, he was content to look after the baby, do you think it’s reasonable that in this short time of five minutes Braidon would reach a point of frustration to cause this injury?

“He tried to call triple-0 straight after, he wasn’t thinking logically in such a heightened time.”

Ms Goldie noted Mr Spinks’ details of the events in question were “consistent” and he had “never admitted to the crime” even when he was unknowingly being recorded.

“He has participated in an hours-long interview with police voluntarily and his evidence has always been consistent,” Ms Goldie said.

“None of the medical evidence can be accurate and we can’t say for certain this second occasion (of shaking) occurred, or if it occured when Mr Spinks was with the baby. We simply don’t know.

“Medical evidence cannot say for sure what happened, there are a number of things that could have happened after Professor Duflou said something happened mid-May (2020) it could have been a continuous bleed, a re-bleed or a slow bleed.”

‘Nothing happened to the child until he came into his life’

The Crown, led by prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke, closed their statement to the jury by saying “there was no deterioration (of the baby’s condition) until Mr Spinks came into the picture”.

“There was at least one shaking event here, any other cause has effectively been ruled out,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“The real question is about who did it. The Crown submission is that the only rational inference is that it is the defendant who did it.

“The immediate change in his condition means there is a shaking event immediately prior to this,” Ms O’Rourke said, referring to the June 8 alleged incident.

The Crown made reference to Mr Spinks being noted by several witnesses as showing frustration to the baby early on and “making comments about shoving the baby in the oven”.

“He doesn’t need much to tick him over the edge and frustration is something that builds. It’s his birthday and there has been a screaming baby who has been unsettled at night,” she said.

“My submission is that he told a deliberate lie when he rang triple-0, and he continued telling it to others including police.”

Ms O’Rourke said there was no evidence of vomit in the house, with Mr Spinks’ version of events saying the baby began to vomit while being changed.

“He tried very hard to get (the mother of the child) to confess because he did it.”

Mr Spinks was described as “completely unreliable” by the Crown, and that the jury “can’t take anything he says at face value”.

“The evidence stacks up against the defendant,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“Nothing happened to this child until the defendant came into his life.”

The jury were sent to deliberate a verdict late Thursday afternoon.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2024

With the closure of the Crown’s case against Mr Spinks on Wednesday morning, the defence began their evidence calling one witness.

Defence barrister Jessica Goldie called the defence’s first witness to give evidence, and said Mr Spinks would not be giving evidence in his trial, which is his right.

Professor Johan Duflou, a forensic pathologist of more than 30 years, was called to give evidence for the defence, saying he was a “medical professional who specialises in injury assessment and autopsy”.

Professor Duflou said based on the images he had seen from the hospital, he thought there was “very strong evidence of injury sometime in the past”.

“It is inherently difficult to age bleeds within the brain. We cannot give precise times or dates,” the professor told the court.

“It’s not possible to give a precise date (for the injuries) … however, the presence of haematoma suggests it’s probably weeks old at minimum.”

Professor Johan Duflou (Photo: National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre)

Ms Goldie asked Professor Duflou if bridging veins, “usually found in shaking baby cases”, were present based on the medical tests done on June 8, 2020, hours after the alleged offending.

“I don’t think that was ever identified,” the professor replied.

“When it comes to any medical diagnosis, the more aspects of the diagnosis there are, the better. If the child had been shaken, besides damage to the brain and retina and subdural haemorrhage, the other thing you would frequently see, and was not found, was injury to the spinal cord – specifically the neck.

“The injury is like a whiplash injury, research has shown that from an imaging perspective you can see neck injury in 70 per cent of cases.”

Professor Duflou said that was “missing” in the material he was provided.

“If you think about how a person is expected to shake a baby, the child is held by the chest and more often than not the baby is facing the person,” he said.

“If you’re holding the baby tightly and shaking forcefully, you end up pressing the chest adjacent to the spine, you would get characteristic fractures along either side of the spine which were not identified.

“They were specifically looked for, and not found.”

Professor Duflou said the more of these injuries seen show the certainty of the outcome, and he was “concerned” that several were not present in imagery.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke, during cross-examination, asked Professor Duflou about his report prepared in 2022.

“At one stage in your report, there was at least one action of accelerating and decelerating force, that would have been vigorous and forceful, and not found in normal handling (of the baby),” Ms O’Rourke said.

“Yes,” Professor Duflou replied.

“Is it entirely possible there was a further force applied immediately before (the baby’s) collapse?” Ms O’Rourke asked.

“I cannot ignore that possibility,” Professor Duflou said.

The defence case closed on Wednesday afternoon.

The trial will continue Thursday.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2024

PHONE TAPS

The Crowns’ final two witnesses were called to give evidence on Tuesday in the trial of Mr Spinks, accused of offending against a three-month-old baby occurring on May 28, 2020 and June 8, 2020.

Detective Senior Constable Denise Parer of Warwick Criminal Investigation Branch, worked in the Child Protection Unit in 2020 when the Crown alleges the offending occurred.

Senior Constable Parer told the court she attended the crime scene at 5pm on June 9, 2020, taking photos of the site.

Braiden Shane Spinks outside Warwick District Court. August 19, 2024.

The court was played three phone intercepts, in which Mr Spinks talked to three people in the aftermath of the alleged offence.

In the first recording, from August 2, 2020, Mr Spinks talks to a woman.

“I have to relive that day every day,” Mr Spinks said.

“I know I didn’t do anything, I’m innocent … It triggers what I had to do that day. I had to stare at a blue newborn baby with no response.”

During the second phone call – this time to a man on August 16, 2020 – Mr Spinks recalls his recollection of June 8, 2020.

“(The baby) was in the rocker, I came out of the shower and he was in a pram. (The mother of the child) left to go to the shops,” Mr Spinks tells the man.

“Five minutes later I picked him up to change him and put him on the changing table as you would. He started crying when I undid his jumpsuit.

“He started to spew, and I rang triple-0 and they told me how to start CPR. She (the mother) came home to find me on the floor giving CPR to the child. The ambulance got there and he was going blue.

“The ambulance lady picked him up and smacked his head on the doorframe, with that they rushed him to Stanthorpe Hospital and then they flew him to Brisbane.

“They did a scan on him and they said someone had shaken him and caused him to have seizures.

“She’s done something and I’m getting the blame. I didn’t touch that child. All I did is try to keep him alive. I did not shake that baby.

“I would never hurt a child.”

In the final phone call played to the jury, on September 13, 2020 Mr Spinks talked to a woman, telling her “this is going to ruin my life, I didn’t do this”.

“They’re trying to set me up for something I wasn’t present for. It’s eating me alive.”

‘NOT A NORMAL THING’

Braiden Shane Spinks outside Warwick District Court on August 20, 2024.

The final witness in the Crown’s case was Dr Maree Crawford, a pediatrician from the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

Dr Crawford told the court her speciality was to provide medical care for children aged 0-18.

Dr Crawford said she assessed and treated the baby when he was presented in hospital on June 8, 2020.

“He was incubated from Stanthorpe Hospital, he was in intensive care, he was unconscious and needed help breathing,” Dr Crawford said.

“When he was presented was he pale and floppy?” Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke asked the witness.

“Yes. It is not a normal thing. He was clearly unwell. A three-month-old is not normally pale and floppy,” Dr Crawford said.

The pediatrician said a number of tests were performed on the baby upon arrival at the hospital, including a number of X-rays, brain scans, blood tests, neurosurgery treatment and eye examinations.

The jury was told brain scans revealed blood pooled in the subdural part of the brain, with doctors finding two different ages of blood in the brain via scans.

“Bleeding can occur in a number of ways, like the acceleration and deceleration of forces applied to the head. Like in a motor vehicle accident, when there’s whiplash and the head moves too and fro,” Dr Crawford said.

“But in infants it could likely be shaking, in these instances the blood is spread evenly.

“The spread (of blood) of the collection is not focal or isolated to one area. Widespread bleeding indicates it is not a focal injury. It is the acceleration and deceleration of forces.”

“Was there any indication of a focal injury to the head?” Ms O’Rourke asked.

“No, there wasn’t,” Dr Crawford replied.

“The bleeding is not from a force to the head, it’s a different type of force. I think the child has suffered two injuries, there is evidence of two. I think he has suffered an injury around two weeks before the scan was taken and then the more recent injury.

“And this has ultimately resulted in cerebral palsy for the boy. Bleeding in the retina indicates extensive and severe trauma.

“These (factors) indicate the baby has suffered the acceleration and deceleration of forces which we see in shaking. In addition, as a result of that injury the baby has had difficulty breathing which has contributed to the injury of the brain.

“The baby has most likely been shaken and had a loss of consciousness and the injury to the brain has caused the long term outcome.”

Dr Crawford explained that the action – likely shaking – “doesn’t occur in normal handling or play” with a baby, and is much more of a “vigorous force”.

“It is not a normal thing,” the doctor testified.

“The baby has also suffered a previous episode of shaking as we can see on the images – likely at least two weeks earlier.

“He would have died without medical treatment.”

The trial continues Wednesday.

MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2024

The second week of the trial of Mr Spinks began with the interview he had with police being played for the jury.

On Monday the Crown, led by prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke, played the entirety of a police interview that was conducted on July 29, 2020.

The crown alleges the offending against the three-month-old occurred on May 28, 2020 and June 8, 2020.

In the lengthy footage, Mr Spinks is interviewed by a Warwick Criminal Investigation Branch detective and a Child Trauma detective.

The mother of the alleged victim and Mr Spinks, then 26, were in a brief relationship prior to the alleged offence in 2020, the court was told last week.

Mr Spinks, now 30, told the detectives while he was living at the Gold Coast at the time, he would visit Stanthorpe “every weekend” to visit the alleged victim’s mother.

“I met her at a rodeo years ago, but we reconnected all those years later (in 2020) via a dating app during the pandemic,” Mr Spinks told detectives.

In the interview, Mr Spinks told investigators he lived with his mother who he “cared for” while himself dealing with medical issues.

He told police he was “undergoing testing” for a brain tumour, which was a “cause of depression”.

Mr Spinks told police his relationship with the alleged victim’s mother was like “high school love” and the pair would frequently talk well into the night on video chatting platforms.

“I would look at my phone and by the time I looked up it was daytime,” Mr Spinks said.

By the end of April 2020, the pair decided to meet up, causing Mr Spinks to drive from the Gold Coast to the Granite Belt, where he would “usually stay for a few days”.

Mr Spinks told police he got along well with the three-month-old and his siblings, saying “he was used to always having kids around”.

“I don’t care if you’re five or 55, I’ll always have the time of day for you,” he said.

“I wasn’t a s — t boyfriend, I bought glasses and cutlery for the house, and books for the kids … and birthday presents.”

Braiden Shane Spinks outside Warwick District Court. August 19, 2024.

Initially, Mr Spinks said he was hesitant to be involved with the three-month-old, and would focus on his older siblings.

Mr Spinks told police the mother of the complainant would drink regularly, often when there was a problem with the baby.

“It stood out to me, when the baby was just being a baby she would resolve back to alcohol,” he said.

“I would be going to the bottle shop twice each weekend on each trip (to Stanthorpe). It was a regular weekend thing for the girls to drink.”

Mr Spinks said he told the women – the mother and aunty of the alleged victim – “you can’t be done being a parent. You don’t get a choice, you have to be a parent.”

The man told officers he would rarely be alone with the children, and would even go outside with the mother when she would have a cigarette.

On one occasion, Mr Spinks woke in the night to hear the three-month-old stirring, telling detectives he held the baby until about 5am to settle him, even playing music off his phone.

“I feel comfortable looking after any child,” he said.

The trial continues Tuesday.

Originally published as Braiden Shane Spinks, 30, found not guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, grievous bodily harm of three-month-old boy