Baby L damaged for life
The trial of the mother of Baby L and her boyfriend has started in the Gauteng North High Court with testimony that the little girl, who was two years old at the time, had allegedly been severely assaulted and left in a vegetative state as a result of brain injury.
A mother and her boyfriend listened without any visible emotion as a doctor described one injury after another – some old and some fresh – to Baby L, who is wheelchair-bound and brain-damaged after allegedly being severely abused by the two.
Baby L was two years old at the time of the alleged abuse which, according to testimony, was so severe that it left her in a vegetative state.
The 20-year-old mother and her 37-year-old boyfriend are facing charges of attempted murder and child abuse in the Gauteng North high court.
They both pleaded not guilty, with the mother claiming her daughter had been in the care of her boyfriend and the boyfriend claiming that the baby girl had fallen down a flight of stairs and off a washing machine.
The identities of the accused cannot be revealed to protect Baby L who is currently being kept in a place of safety. She cannot talk, is in a wheelchair, is being tube-fed and would never be able to live a normal life as she would need round-the-clock care.
The prosecution claimed that although the little girl had been taken to hospital after sustaining serious head injuries and a brain scan had been done, the couple had left the Steve Biko hospital with Baby L without waiting to discuss the results with the doctor. Three days later, after suffering a seizure, Baby L had again been rushed to hospital where she remained for months before being taken to a place of safety.
The couple lived with Baby L in a flat in Amandasig, north of Pretoria when the alleged assault took place.
Dr Paul Stevens, one of the doctors who had treated the little girl at Steve Biko on December 30 last year, testified before Judge Nico Coetzee and said he had seen the child again recently when brought to the hospital for a check-up. Stevens said communication was impossible as there was no coherent response and her life expectancy depended on the standard of care she would receive.
Dr Stevens was adamant that Baby L’s injuries were inconsistent with someone falling off a washing machine, although he admitted they could perhaps be consistent with someone falling down a very steep staircase. However, he said severe force had been used to cause some of her injuries.
Injuries were to her pancreas, a bruised kidney and she had blood in her stomach – an indication of an older injury, the court heard.
She also had an older injury of a broken pelvis and fluid in her lungs.
The trial continues.
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