Father tells trial baby’s injuries accidental

Richard Barnes said he and baby Grace banged their heads together when he lifted her suddenly because she was sick while he was feeding her, and he worried she was going to choke.

“It was like the equivalent of being punched or in a game of football if you head a ball hard, similar to that, it made my ears ring.”

He told Leeds Crown Court he was alone looking after the baby while his partner Stephanie Rudd was driving her mother home.

After the clash of heads he remembered standing with Grace in his arms and then found himself on the floor behind the sofa on top of her.

He told his counsel Paul Greaney QC he did not know how that had happened. “I can’t remember that bit. I remember feeling a little bit dizzy after I stood up.”

He did not look at the baby and put her in her crib, before going to his local shop where he bought two miniatures of vodka which he went home and drank.

Barnes told the court it was then then he looked at the baby and could see she was really white and at that stage panicked. “I was in a right state.”

He said he was looking for his phone when his girlfriend returned. An ambulance was called and Grace was rushed to hospital dying four days later from head injuries including multiple skull fractures.

Barnes said he felt ashamed that he had not mentioned at that time to his partner, medical staff or the police about falling on the baby.

“How do you feel about going to the off licence,” asked Mr Greaney.

“I hate myself for it I really do,” said the defendant.

Barnes 27, of Crowther Street, Castleford, denies murdering his daughter in November last year and told the jury he did nothing to deliberately harm her.

Under cross-examination by Richard Mansell QC prosecuting, Barnes denied he had a drink problem or assaulted Grace because he had “lost it” that night with her crying or being sick.

“I didn’t lose it,” he said.

The trial continues.