UK police investigate as baby's injuries 'like those of crash victim'

A toddler alleged to have died at the hands of his mother and her partner suffered injuries commonly sustained by road crash victims, a court heard today.

Brandon Muir, from Dundee, died in hospital on March 16 last year aged 23 months after suffering a ruptured duodenum, which is part of the small bowel.

John Orr, consultant paediatric surgeon at the Royal Hospital of Sick Children in Edinburgh, said the injury was caused by a "severe blow" to the abdomen.

He told the High Court in Glasgow that the injury could be accidental or non-accidental and may have been caused by a punch, a kick or a fall from a considerable height onto an object.

He said: "The most common type of accident would be a road traffic accident.

"It's unusual for a child to sustain this type of injury with a fall down stairs. That would be extremely rare.

"One would always be concerned when you encounter this type of injury that it is as a result of a non-accidental injury."

Robert Cunningham (aged 23) is accused of murdering the child by assaulting him at two flats in Balunie Crescent, Dundee on March 15 last year.

Heather Boyd (aged 23) is accused of her son's culpable homicide by failing to get him medical help.

They deny the charges.

The court heard that Brandon's duodenum ruptured after it was compressed against the spine by a significant force.

Mr Orr told the court that someone in a car crash could suffer a similar injury because as the car deaccelerated they would be forced forward into the seat belt which could compress the duodenum against the spine with sufficient force to rupture it.

Questioned by prosecutor James Wolffe QC on the effects of a ruptured duodenum on a child, Mr Orr said: "At the time of the injury the child would cry out in pain and would carry on crying for a while and may then become quiet because of the pain.

"The child would be pale and would not be saying a great deal, maybe whimpering or crying.

"The child is likely to vomit almost immediately after the injury."

He said that a ruptured duodenum is treatable through surgery if medical attention is sought in time.

Asked whether Brandon would have been likely to survive he said: "There's no reason to believe if Brandon was brought to hospital within a reasonable time from the injury that he could not be treated successfully."

Boyd and Cunningham also together face a charge of ill-treating Brandon between October 2007 and March 2008 at two addresses in Balunie Crescent and one in Duncraig Road, Dundee.

It is alleged that the pair shouted and swore at him, subjected him to excessive noise and forced him to assume a standing or sitting position for prolonged periods.

Boyd is accused of assaulting her son at Douglas Family Centre in the city on March 5 2008 and Cunningham is further charged with ill-treating another young boy over a six-month period.

The pair deny all charges.