Infant fell off settee, club doorman accused of attacking baby son tells Bradford Crown Court jury

The 23-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, denies causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.

A tape of him calling the ambulance service after he said he found the nine-week-old baby face down on the floor was played at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Prosecutor Nick Askins has said paramedics found the child suffering seizures when they attended his parents’ Bradford flat on June 28, 2011.

The defendant had been left in charge of his baby son while his partner and the child’s grandmother went to the supermarket.

The trial has heard that the infant was treated at Bradford Royal Infirmary and transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

He had suffered a subdural haemorrhage and bleeding to the back of both eyes, alleged to be caused by a blunt trauma injury.

The defendant told the court he was really excited by the birth of his son and shared the tasks of caring for him.

The baby was big for his age, very forward and active.

He fed him, gave him his colic medicine and placed him on a cushion on the settee for about thirty seconds while he prepared his bath.

“I went back and he was face down on the living room floor. He must have rolled off,” the man said.

He added: “He was just white and his eyes were going backwards and forwards and he was twitching.”

The man said he had never got frustrated or angry with his son and had been left alone for short periods to care for him before.

He agreed he did not tell the police or doctors at the hospital that the baby had rolled off the settee.

“I was petrified. I had been arrested. I did not know if my son was alive or dead. I just wanted to get to hospital to see him,” he said.

The man said he later told his solicitor what had happened.

“I wish I could put the clock back. I should never, ever have left him on the couch,” he added.

The trial continues.