Identifying perpetrator of child injuries

T (a child) [2009] EWCA Civ 1208

Baby T was admitted to hospital with multiple injuries at the age of only two months. These included a fractured skull and fractured ribs. In care proceedings the judge held both parents responsible on the basis that it was only possible to identify the father as the perpetrator of two of T’s injuries, a bruise and a cut lip, and he could not on the balance of probabilities be satisfied that either of the parents was the sole perpetrator of the more serious injuries. The mother appealed submitting that there was a lack of evidence pointing directly to her and therefore she was entitled to a positive acquittal, particularly as the judge had stated that the father was more likely than she to have committed the more serious acts.