Dad on trial for assaulting one infant twin son after other son hospitalized and later died (Ottawa, Canada)

Um, yea. It really, really was, um, an accident, a terrible coincidence, that Daddy broke the ribs of the one infant son after the other was airlifted to a children's hospital coughing up blood. (That baby later died.) Yea, really. And I have a bridge I'd like to sell ya....

Is UNNAMED DAD a single father? Notice the statemetnt about how this poor, frustrated daddy was just so"distraught" by the child and infant care that he was performing "24/7." Mothers would never get away with this excuse. It's just assumed that any woman should be able to take on these responsibilities and somehow manage without all the whining.

What happened to the mother of these babies? Why was she apparently not in the home? It's as if the babies had been personally delivered to Daddy by the stork. Why do reporters continuously erase mothers from these stories, as if no one ever gave birth to these children? Is she alive, dead, "missing" or what?

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Grieving+father+intend+harm+infant+defence+argues/8420967/story.html

Grieving father did not intend to harm infant son, defence argues

By Chloé Fedio, OTTAWA CITIZEN May 22, 2013

OTTAWA — A young father in mourning over the death of one twin son became so overwhelmed after the second twin was airlifted to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario that he squeezed the crying baby out of stress and broke his ribs, a Crown prosecutor argued at the man’s assault trial.

“(The man’s) frustration at that time and his depression and grieving over his other child became too much,” Donna Eastwood argued during closing statements in an Ottawa courtroom. “He could not cope. The baby was extremely irritable and difficult to settle.”

The man, 25, cannot be named due to a publication ban meant to protect the identity of his son. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault causing bodily harm.

Defence lawyer Sam Adam argued there’s “an innocent explanation” for the eight-week-old boy’s injuries.

“He did not intend to cause any harm to his son,” Adam said.

Despite the trial’s many witnesses — including a social worker, five nurses, a medical student, two experts and the accused who testified in his own defence — Adam argued that “we still don’t know exactly what happened.”

The Crown theorized that the baby’s 12 rib fractures were a result of being squeezed by his father on Jan. 29, 2011, and again two days later on Jan. 31 while the child was in hospital.

A nurse testified she heard the “high-pitched cry of a child” twice on Jan. 29 while his father was holding him. But Adam pointed out that she did not chart concerns, report abuse or notice that the child had any injuries afterward.

Further, experts did not say conclusively that the ribs were fractured on two separate occasions — just that the fractures were believed to have occurred between Jan. 25 and Feb. 3, Adam said. He also argued that experts testified the injuries were not necessarily caused by squeezing.

The father testified that on one occasion, the infant slipped out of his grasp and he lunged forward to grab him mid-air. On a second occasion, he said the boy suffered an apneic spell and that he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation while he called out for a nurse to help. The “inexperienced, panicked father” used his palm, which could have crushed the ribs, Adam argued.

“He had already lost one son and was terrified to lose another,” Adam argued. “His evidence is, he felt he had to do it to save his son.”

But Eastwood pointed out that the nurse who entered the room did not see the man administer CPR. The nurse rubbed the baby’s back until breathing resumed.

The man’s “false story,” Eastwood argued, “ought not to be believed.”

Eastwood also argued that “it’s not realistic” that the man would have dropped his son because he “has lots of experience holding children.”

The man had been caring for “four children in diapers” when his five-week-old infant son died, Eastwood said.

“He’s essentially looking after those children 24/7 without a break,” she said.

Just 12 days later, the second twin was airlifted to CHEO from the Kashechewan First Nation near James Bay after coughing up blood.

Eastwood argued that the grieving father was “distressed, distraught and angry” during his time at CHEO, especially because there were rumours in his community that he had somehow contributed to his son’s death.

 “Surely, it has to be more than a coincidence” that he intentionally applied force on two separate occasions, Eastwood said.

Adam countered that there’s an “air of reality” to the man’s version, which does not amount to child abuse.

“Essentially, what happened to him is not a crime,” Adam said.

A decision is expected on July 31.