Dad accused of shaking four-week-old baby to death

A father is accused of shaking his four-week-old baby to death while he was alone with his son for a few moments.

During the opening of Tony Bartlett's trial, the jury was told the 39-year-old was left to feed Atticus while his mother changed upstairs following the couple's first night out together since the baby's birth.

Prosecutors told Bristol Crown Court Evelyn Ballentyne returned to see her son looking "lifeless" and heard Atticus taking his last unassisted breaths.

The baby was taken to hospital from the pair's home in Somerset in a critical condition and died a week later. Bartlett, of Axminster in Devon, denies charges of murder and manslaughter. The trial continues.

This story contains details which readers may find distressing.

Jurors were told Atticus had been looked after by his grandparents during the evening of 16 July 2022 while Bartlett and Ballentyne went to the pub and a comedy show.

"Having been on a night out and having consumed up to nine pints of beer, Tony Bartlett was left to look after and feed Atticus for just a few moments while Evelyn went upstairs to change and get ready for bed," prosecutor Charles Row KC said.

"In those few moments, Tony Bartlett violently shook his child so hard that he caused severe internal injuries to Atticus' brain and he damaged his spinal cord."

"The damage to Atticus' brain was so severe that nothing could be done," Row told the court.

"He never managed to breathe for himself again and he never regained consciousness," jurors heard.

When Ballentyne came downstairs, her baby was "lifeless, face down and across his father's knees", Row said.

"As she walked in, Atticus made a couple of strange gasping sounds. She immediately shouted 'he's dead'," he continued.

Paramedics arrived at the family home in Chard at 23:30 BST and Atticus died in hospital on 23 July 2022.

Row told the jury "something" that night had caused Bartlett to become "frustrated" with his young son.

He said the baby was a "difficult and messy feeder" with a tendency to spit out his milk.

That evening, Atticus had been "grizzly and crying" on and off, jurors were told.

Row said: "Whatever happened, Tony Bartlett could not and did not tolerate it.

"It is the Crown's case that, in that moment, Tony Bartlett shook Atticus so hard that he must have intended to cause him really serious bodily harm.

"If you shake a four-week-old baby with so much force that you break ribs and destroy his brain, what other intention is there?"

In police interviews, Bartlett - who works as a postman - said he had been feeding Atticus when the baby started coughing and choking.

Jurors heard he told officers he was rubbing and patting his son before he "decided to put him on my knee and shake him a little bit on my knee".

Bartlett now says this is not the case and any non-accidental injury must have been caused by Ballentyne, Row told the court.

"It is his case that he bears no responsibility for Atticus' death whatsoever," he added.

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