A WOMAN who shook a seven-month-old baby boy so severely she left him disabled after she dropped him down a flight of stairs has been spared jail.
Nikki Irvine, 29, had faced a lengthy sentence for shaking the child in a panic to rouse him while fearing he was dead following the accident at a flat in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire.
However, a sheriff said she did not deliberately try to harm the child and placed her on an 18 month community payback order.
Irvine, of Johnstone, shook the child, who was unconscious after falling down stairs after she slipped and dropped him, Paisley Sheriff Court heard.
The incident, which left the boy with bleeding on the brain and stunted growth, happened in November 2013.
Irvine had been charged with assault, but she admitted culpable and reckless conduct.
Procurator Fiscal depute Scot Dignan said that Irvine’s partner left her and their other children to go shopping. It was only when she phoned a friend, that she confessed that she had dropped the child.
The boy was transferred to hospital in Glasgow where a CT scan revealed blood clots on his brain.
Advocate Paul Nelson said Irvine had been frantic and feared the child might have been died. He said that she shook him to rouse him, but did not deliberately attack him.
He added that she accepted she should have immediately summoned emergency services.
Sheriff James Spy said: “I accept today you did not act deliberately and had no intent to harm.” What you did was culpable and reckless.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article