A Peterhead man has been found guilty of inflicting “extremely severe” injuries to a toddler that left the child with serious head trauma.
Robert Wilson, 27, was convicted of severely wounding and wilfully neglecting the young boy, leaving him with dozens of injuries and bruising that were consistent with “shaken baby”.
The alarm was raised by medical experts who examined the child and found 51 separate injuries.
Doctors described the injuries sustained by the child as “extremely severe”.
‘Extremely severe’ injuries
The toddler was found to have red retinal haemorrhaging, blood behind the eyes, bruising to his back and significant head trauma.
However, Wilson told police at the time that the toddler had fallen down a set of stairs while playing a game of “peekaboo”.
Wilson, who also goes by the nickname Jib, faced one charge that he assaulted the child by repeatedly striking the toddler on the head and body at an address in Peterhead, causing severe injury and danger to life.
A second charge stated that Wilson caused the child unnecessary pain and suffering by failing to seek medical attention, which exposed the child to the risk of severe illness or death.
It took a jury of eight men and seven women just over two hours to find Wilson guilty of both charges at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Following the verdict, Sheriff Andrew Miller described Wilson’s offences as “extremely serious”.
During the trial, jurors were shown footage of Wilson’s police interview following the incident on February 16 2019 where he was quizzed about injuries to the child’s back that were consistent with “classic bruising for shaken baby”.
However, Wilson maintained that the toddler had “fallen down the stairs and got a carpet burn”.
Detective Constable Craig Dalton put to Wilson that it was the opinion of the chief medical doctor that the child’s injuries “were the result of physical abuse”.
“I would never hurt a kid, that’s not how it went down,” Wilson said.
“You’re basically saying I battered the bairn.”
‘Deliberately’ didn’t seek medical help for child
During his final speech to the jury, fiscal depute Brian Young focused on Wilson’s varying accounts of how the child suffered the injuries, including increasing the number of steps the toddler supposedly fell down.
He said: “The more serious things got for the accused, the further up the staircase that young boy got before he fell.”
Mr Young also told jurors that Wilson had ignored the advice of three friends and family members who told him the infant required medical attention.
“That advice was wilfully and deliberately ignored,” he said.
“Mr Wilson’s delay in seeking medical attention resulted in the prolonged suffering of the child.”
However, Wilson’s defence solicitor David Moggach pointed to what he believed to be “holes and gaps” in the Crown case against his client.
He asked the jury: “Can you be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Wilson subjected the child to these injuries?”
Upon hearing the verdict, Sheriff Miller told Wilson: “The members of the jury have convicted you of these serious offences.
“There is absolutely no doubt that this is of an extremely serious nature and I note that you have a number of previous convictions for a variety of offences.”
Sheriff Miller deferred sentence on Wilson – who is currently serving a prison sentence in HMP Grampian for assault and danger to life – until next month in order for a criminal justice social work report and a risk assessment to be carried out.
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