7/04/08 (CAN):
Day Care Worker Acquitted In Shaken Baby Case
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A day care worker accused of shaking a baby so hard that the tot was left half-blind and brain-damaged was acquitted of aggravated assault in Quebec Court yesterday.
Sandra Davidson, 32, let out a sigh of relief as the verdict was read. She wouldn't comment on the case, though her defense lawyer did say he was pleased with the verdict and happy that his client can now get on with her life after a difficult trial.
"When there are accusations of causing bodily harm to a child, your life changes dramatically," Conrad Lord said. "Your family, your children, your whole life is basically on standby."
The prosecution had been trying to establish that Davidson was responsible for the child suffering from shaken baby syndrome. Now 4 years old, the boy is still in diapers and has the limited vocabulary of an 18-month-old. He was diagnosed with the condition less than a month after being in Davidson's care.
The boy's father - who cannot be identified because of a publication ban - testified that his son was pale and listless and had trouble keeping down his milk when he picked him up from Davidson's home on Aug. 6, 2004.
At the time, Davidson told him she had checked the child's symptoms with Info-Santé and had been told the child had an upset stomach. But Info-Santé nurse Françoise Coursol testified that she had told Davidson to call 911, which she never did.
The following week, after another stay with Davidson, the baby was taken to the hospital.
The central issue in the case was whether or not the baby's symptoms were the result of a shaking that happened in Davidson's home.
Gilles Fortin, a pediatrician at Ste. Justine Hospital, had testified that shaken-baby symptoms are immediately apparent and that the shaking would have had to have happened minutes before Davidson's Info-Santé call.
But neurosurgeon Louis Crevier testified for the defence that shaking a baby can bring about brain lesions that will cause non-specific symptoms that would ordinarily be associated with stomach trouble.
Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin concluded that given the contradictory testimony of the two expert witnesses, it was impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the shaking of the boy happened under Davidson's care.
With Thanks, © The Gazette, 2008
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