A self-confessed drug dealer has categorically denied inflicting the serious head injury to a child which resulted in part of their skull being removed.
Craig Neill told jurors that he had never hurt the child at any point and said they had suffered one injury while in his care when they fell over.
The 26-year-old and Amy Cave were both charged after the child was left with a significant brain injury requiring surgery after the toddler collapsed in Darlington.
Peter Wilcock KC, representing Neill, took the defendant through his evidence at Teesside Crown Court.
The barrister quizzed Neill about how he believed the toddler had suffered multiple injuries in the weeks leading up to them suffering significant head trauma.
He asked: “Did you cause any of these injuries?” Neill replied: “No, not at all.”
The jury heard how 20-year-old Cave had told police that the toddler had fallen off a couch and hurt their head but Neill maintained that he was not present when that incident allegedly occurred.
Mr Wilcock asked his client if he had looked up what happened about child protection records while the toddler was being treated in hospital because he had inflicted them.
He said: “No, nothing like that.”
The barrister said: “You sent a message to Amy saying - ‘don’t mention me because I have been to jail’.”
Neill said: “Yes, that’s correct.”
Jurors had heard how the toddler had multiple bruises to the face, body and arms as well as fractures to both wrists that occurred in the weeks leading up to them being taken to hospital in May this year.
Mr Wilcock asked: “Did you do anything to the child to cause the bruises and reddening to those parts of the body?”
Neill replied: “No.”
He asked: “Were you present when those injuries were caused?”
Neill replied: “No.”
The accused went on to tell the jury that Cave had told him that the child had banged their head on a table to cause the facial bruising.
Neill also denied causing the fractures to the toddler’s jaw, which had happened two to three weeks before the head injury.
The barrister asked: “We know the child was taken to hospital after suffering significant head and brain injuries. Did you do anything to cause them to suffer those injuries?”
He simply replied: “No.”
Under cross-examination from Cave’s defence barrister, Nicholas Lumley KC, Neill denied that he was blaming the 20-year-old for causing the head injuries.
The barrister asked: “You’re standing there hanging Amy Cave out to dry, aren’t you?”
Neill replied: “No. The only person I am hanging out to dry is myself, admitting dealing drugs.”
When asked whether he had caused the injuries to the child, Neill replied: “You know deep down inside that it wasn’t me. I’m not chancing my arm because I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
They also heard how friends and family warned Cave that her new partner had a violent past.
The 20-year-old had been in her new relationship for several weeks at the time of the alleged incident and was put under pressure to have an abortion after she fell pregnant.
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Paramedics and then police were called to an address in the Branksome area on the afternoon of May 26 at about 1.45pm following reports of an unresponsive child.
Cave, of Waltham Close, Darlington, pleaded not guilty to the charge of allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm.
While Neill, 26, of Yarm Road, Darlington, denies a charge of causing a child to suffer serious physical harm.
The trial continues.
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