THE jury in the trial of a murdered two-year-old boy was told last night to decide if it was his mother or babysitter who inflicted the fatal blows.

Andrew Robertson, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that he believed babysitter Suzanne Holdsworth had repeatedly rammed Kyle Fisher’s head into the banister at her home in a fit of rage.

However, Andrew Thomas, defending, said there was nothing to suggest that Miss Holdsworth had done anything but love and look after the “mistreated” child. He told the jury to look to Kyle’s teenage, single mother, Clare Fisher, when considering how the toddler had received severe bruising to his head and other parts of his body.

Holdsworth, a 38-year-old mother-of-two who denies murder, had been looking after Kyle at her home in Millpool Close, Hartlepool, for just over an hour when he collapsed and fell unconscious on July 21, 2004.

He died two days later after suffering a bleed in his skull and brain swelling, caused, the prosecution said, by severe head trauma no more than 15 minutes earlier.

Bruises on his shoulders and under his chin were caused by a gripping motion, Mr Robertson claimed.

He said: “The reality, in our submission, can only be that Miss Holdsworth caused the injuries.”

The court has accepted that Kyle suffered from three preexisting brain abnormalities, two of which could have left him pre-disposed to suffer epileptic fits.

Mr Thomas argued that Kyle may have suffered a head injury in the hours and days before he collapsed, causing a slow bleed in his skull.

A secondary, very minor impact to his head while he was at Miss Holdworth’s house could then have triggered an epileptic fit and fatal swelling.

He said Miss Fisher was suffering from depression at the time and was unable to cope with the demands of a toddler.

Her house was untidy, neighbours complained of loud music at night, and days before Kyle died, she “mistreated”

him by leaving him home alone while out with friends. He also said there were older bruises on Kyle when he died, consistent with rough handling.

And he submitted that when her mother, Linda Fisher, went away on holiday, the pressure of looking after Kyle alone became too great.

He said: “It is Clare Fisher who is the credible candidate for attacking Kyle in this case.”

The jury is expected to consider a verdict today.