Father accused of smashing his baby son's head against a wall

The 23-year-old cheated on his long-term girlfriend by posing as a 17-year-old, and had a brief fling with a 16-year-old girl he met over the internet, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

But she became pregnant and when the boy was born, the father feared he would lose his girlfriend of 18 months if she found out. He allegedly smashed the baby's head against a bedroom wall at least four times. The child survived but has been left severely brain damaged. Prosecutor Bryan Cox told a Sheffield Crown Court jury yesterday: "The boy's arrival posed a substantial threat to the defendant's future plans.

"He was in a relationship with a girl, not the boy's mother, and was concerned about the financial implications of having a baby and the impact the boy's arrival would have on his future plans with his girlfriend.

"The prosecution say he decided to resolve these problems by killing the baby."

Mr Cox said the father carried out the attack while left alone for a few moments with the child at the grandparents' home.

He added: "This was not as momentary loss of temper, it was a considered, planned attack on a defenceless baby whose arrival was inconvenient."

The child suffered a complex fracture of the skull and bleeding on the brain. He had a swelling the size of a adult's fist at the side of the head.

A medical specialist who treated the infant said it was one of the most serious head injuries he had ever seen in a child.

The father, from the Doncaster area, denies attempted murder on January 6 this year.

Mr Cox said the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a brief fling with the young mother at the beginning of 2009.

They had sex on their first date after meeting through an internet chatroom, with the man telling her he was 17.

After the girl became pregnant, the 23-year-old stopped seeing her but the mother decided to keep the baby.

A jury heard the father spoke to the girl's mother by telephone and made it clear the baby was a "considerable inconvenience." He told her to get rid of it and put it up for adoption.

On the day of the alleged attack, the 23-year-old turned up at the home of the mother's grandparents in the Doncaster area where the mother was staying.

Mr Cox said he asked to go with the mother and their son to his bedroom. He then asked the girl to fetch him a drink.

She went downstairs and returned to find the father coming downstairs with the boy. He dropped the child and she caught him.

When arrested, the defendant told police he dropped the baby as he handed him over to the mother on the stairs.

He claimed he saw a cut and swelling on the baby's face before the fall and went on to claim he had been "set up" but during the interview only referred to his son as "it."

The trial continues.