Four-year-old boy was kept out of sight before being shaken to death, court told

Murder trial hears that the accused woman had described keeping the boy in his room in the days prior to his death

Barrister Anne Rowland told the Central Criminal Court the prosecution case is that there were various assaults on the child prior to March 13 2021, the day he suffered his fatal injuries. iStock 

A four-year-old boy was "kept out of sight" from his family to hide bruising on his face following a series of assaults before he died having been shaken by his step-mother, a barrister has told a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court.

In her opening speech, Anne Rowland, prosecuting, said that the accused, a woman in her 30s from the South-West of the country, told gardaí that the boy was a "bold cheeky child" and often had to be grounded.