Brandon Heath: Jury sent out in baby girl murder trial

Brandon Mark Heath, 22, currently in HMP Altcourse, has been on trial in Chester Crown Court for almost four weeks, charged with killing a 22-month-old child by causing her a ‘catastrophic’ brain injury in Northwich.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies causing her any injury. Andrew O’Byrne, prosecuting, told the court the little girl’s hospital life-support machine was switched off on August 31, 2020.

The court also heard how she had undergone emergency neurosurgery after suffering a serious brain injury and there was ‘no real prospect of survival’.

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The prosecution said this was ‘as a result of violence’ and could not have been an accident. In May 2020, the child’s mum started a relationship with Heath, who often stayed at her home in Northwich.

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On the morning of August 30, 2020, she was not at home and was giving a lift to a friend, leaving just before 9.15am.

At 9.41am, North West Ambulance Service received a call from Heath – the only adult in the home at the time – saying the child appeared to have knocked herself out and was struggling to breathe.

An air ambulance was called and the child was transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where a CT scan revealed a ‘catastrophic’ brain injury.

It was concluded a ‘violent shake’ or trauma had happened to the child. A post-mortem revealed bruising to various parts of her body, including the back of her thighs which was ‘unusual’, as well as other bruises typical with young children.

There were no fractures to the child’s face or skull, but there was bruising to her jaw, chin, mouth, ears and cheek – potentially caused by gripping, but this may have been caused by the brain surgery or the paramedics’ efforts to revive her.

Pathologists recorded 27 partial rib fracture sites in different stages of healing on the child.

The court heard the most recent partial fracture had been caused 24 hours before, while the oldest had been caused 36 hours to three days prior. Some of these partial fractures were caused before CPR was performed.

While professionals could not rule out the baby girl’s fatal injuries were caused before her mum left at 9.15am on August 30 due to a potential ‘lag’ in the child’s condition, the court heard how you would not expect the child to be sat up in a high chair crying as normal afterwards – as the defendant said she was.

Brandon Heath arriving at Chester Crown Court charged with murder (Andrew Price/View Finder Pictures)

Turning to the events of August 30, Heath said he woke up at around 9am and got out of bed just before the child’s mum left the house.

He went into the living room where the baby was crying in her highchair and her older brother was on the sofa – the eldest child left with her mum.

Heath went into the back garden for a cigarette and then, if he hadn’t beforehand, he got the baby out of her highchair.

He lay her down and went upstairs to find a nappy. Once back downstairs, he realised he had forgotten her clothes, so picked her up and took her upstairs.

He changed her nappy but noticed she was ‘floppy’, looked like she wanted to go to sleep and was unresponsive.

Further summarising the witnesses from the trial, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen reminded the jury neighbours had heard the child’s mum swearing and shouting at her three children.

There were parties at the address where people were drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis. The woman’s eldest daughter gave evidence via a recording and said Heath played with the two other children ‘a bit rough’ on the sofa.

She said her mum would smack both her and her younger brother on the bottom and hand if they were naughty, and the baby across the bottom, hand and face.

The children’s mum maintains she did not do anything to harm the baby girl before she left the house on August 30 and she would never have smacked the baby as she was too young to know right from wrong.

The trial continues.