8:00am Friday 27th November 2009
By James Morton
A Wimborne father accused of killing his 10-week-old baby threatened to “slap” and “hurt” hospital staff as they tried to save his son, a court heard yesterday.
Craig Tattum, who denies the manslaughter of Ethan, was acting “unusually” on the night of his son’s death, witnesses told Winchester Crown Court.
Tattum, 35, “repeatedly” pointed out bruising on Ethan’s face, wanting to know how it got there and accusing paramedics of causing it, the jury heard.
Poole hospital staff also told the court they had smelled alcohol on Tattum’s breath, though they did not consider him drunk or out of control.
The jury previously heard Tattum had downed most of a bottle of vodka at his Gordon Road flat in Wimborne on the night Ethan died in July last year.
Staff nurse Jodie Anderson told the court she found the father’s aggression in the hospital “unusual”.
She said: “He said he would hurt us if anything happened to Ethan.
“I was a little bit nervous. He’s a big man and I was a bit frightened.”
Miss Anderson said she regarded Tattum’s obsessing over the bruises on Ethan’s face as odd.
“He pointed them out almost straight away and I’ve never known anyone to worry over scratches or bruises when their baby isn’t breathing,” she added.
Mirka Collo, a paediatric nurse, said Tattum had asked staff what they were doing and “at one point threatened to give us all a slap”.
“I was a little intimidated and wasn’t sure what he was going to do next,” she added.
During the attempted resuscitation of Ethan, Tattum made several suggestions, including shaking him and giving him a “kangaroo cuddle” by putting him down his shirt, the jury heard.
Staff nurse Alison Taylor said she also considered a remark made by Tattum, about the ambulance crew hitting Ethan’s head on a door, as “unusual”.
The prosecution alleges Tattum killed Ethan by hitting and probably shaking him. But the Wimborne dad maintains he discovered his son with a nose-bleed and 999 was called.
The trial continues.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk