A baby boy suffered bleeding of the brain so severe that medics compared his injuries to those of a child who had been in a car crash, a court heard.
Kevin Edwards, 33, is on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of striking and shaking the three-month-old while his mother was out shopping, leaving the child with permanent disabilities.
He has lodged a special defence of incrimination claiming that other people are to blame for what happened to the boy.
Dr Shona Olson, gave evidence on the third day of Mr Edward’s jury trial yesterday.
Jurors heard she analysed brain scans taken after the baby was admitted to the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital following the alleged incident in August 2012.
Earlier, the court heard that the baby had been discovered at home in a “lifeless” state by his mother.
Dr Olson said that “multiple areas” of haemorrhaging had been discovered in the child’s head, which she suspected had been caused by “non-accidental” injury.
She said that, in her experience, the injuries were consistent with those a child might suffer in a car accident, or if it had been dropped from a height greater than the size of an adult.
Dr Olson said: “It’s not an exact science, but it’s something that’s happened in the last few days.”
However, the doctor and her colleague, Dr Olive Robb, also found an older haemorrhage surrounding the child’s brain.
The court heard this could have been caused up to two weeks before the child was admitted to hospital – and days before the alleged attack was meant to have taken place.
Dr Robb agreed the haemorrhages had been caused by “significant trauma”, which could leave a child with loss of brain function.
The court also heard from the grandmother of the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Ian Duguid QC, defending Mr Edwards, put to the witness that she told police that Edwards, of 14 Kemp Street, Aberdeen, was a “nice person”.
The witness replied: “I think I said ‘seems to be’.
The trial continues.