Judge said ‘lifelong harm has been caused in horrific circumstances’ as he addresses empty dock
www.theguardian.com
'We often hear about people dying of a broken heart. This is how we feel after this day'
A statement by the mother of Child N, a baby boy born with haemophilia, is now being read to the court. Letby tried to murder the newborn by injecting him with air and thrusting a nasogastric tube down his throat. It was an “utterly catastrophic” scene as doctors tried to save their little boy, she says, and has left a “lasting imprint” on their lives.
The mother says she “knew” her child had been deliberately harmed – she doesn’t know if it was common sense or a mother’s instinct. “But I just knew.”
The mother says she believes Child N, now aged seven years, suffered “lasting damage” from Letby’s attack and is undergoing investigations to establish this. He gags whenever brushing his teeth, she says, which may be due to the throat trauma he suffered at the hands of Letby, when he was only a day old.
The little boy is home-schooled “because our trust in other people has been completely broken”, his mother says.
Child N’s mother says she was “happy and relieved” when they were told that they were part of the police investigation. Finally they would receive some answers and be listened to, she adds.
They have discussed having another baby since Child N but the fear of going back into a hospital, and especially a neonatal unit, “has stopped us from doing so”.
The mother ends her statement by saying they thought long and hard about whether to talk about the impact of Letby’s crimes: