Mum
who shook baby walks free from court
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1926892005&20050912194730
Scotsman
- 12th September 2005
A
MOTHER convicted of shaking a crying baby and dumping him in a cot
has walked free from court.
Liane Gordon,
26, was admonished a year after admitting culpable and reckless
conduct, resulting in severe injury to the child.
Lord Macfadyen
had deferred sentence on the mother-of-three who today thanked the
judge for giving her "the chance to start over".
Doctors
who treated the four-month-old child for bleeding inside his skull
had been worried about the possibility of fatal brain damage.
Medical
experts at her trial said there was no evidence to suggest that
Ms Gordon, of Greenhead Farm, West Saltoun, East Lothian, intended
to harm the child and as little as ten seconds of shaking could
have been involved. The child has made a full recovery.
She said
today: "The relationship I was in at the time wasn't ideal,
but what happened has happened and I can't change that. I just have
to get on with things.
"I
did feel stigma after the trial and some people wouldn't speak to
me. But over the last couple of months they have started to get
in touch again. I've had a lot of support from family and friends.
"I've
three fabulous children who are my life and I've been given the
chance to start over by Lord Macfadyen. He gave me a chance and
I'm very grateful to him for that."
The High
Court in Edinburgh heard last August that the baby appeared unwell
when his father tried to give him a bottle on January 20 and later
that day he seemed limp.
An ambulance
was called and the child was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick
Children in Edinburgh, where medical staff were "extremely
concerned" for his life.
During
the days following admission the boy suffered a number of seizures.
It was at this time that the police were called in to investigate.
Ms Gordon
at first tried to claim that she had fallen while coming downstairs
with the baby.
But she
later told social workers that she was not able to cope with the
baby crying while she was looking after him at a house in Haddington,
in East Lothian, in January 2002.
Her mother
Cecilia, 45, said: "We have total faith in Liane and always
have done. We're proud about the way she has moved on with her life."
Last year's
trial had been set back by more than 12 months after Ms Gordon needed
hospital treatment over complications from a pregnancy, and suffered
from depression.
Her father
Alex, 49, said: "We will continue to support Liane. She has
been under the microscope but she's proved she is a good mother."
Ms Gordon
is studying manual bookkeeping at home and hopes to start a career
once her children are old enough for school.
