A CO Armagh man took to the witness stand on Wednesday to deny he killed his son by violently shaking him.
He did, however, admit to “telling lies here and there” to police in the aftermath of his son’s death.
Craig Rowland (29), of Millington Park, Portadown, is on trial accused of the murder and manslaughter of his son Lewis.
The three-year old boy passed away following complications arising from surgery on October 20, 2018.
His death occurred three years after he was admitted to Craigavon Area Hospital with serious head injuries which resulted in a permanent and severe disability.
It’s the Crown’s case that the “non-accidental” brain injuries he sustained in November 2015 when he was 13-weeks-old played a significant role in his death.
Now in the third week of his Belfast Crown Court trial, defence counsel Seamus McNeill KC called forward Rowland from the dock to the witness stand.
Rowland said that on the morning of Friday November 20, 2015, he was woken by his partner Laura Graham around 7am.
He told his counsel he had looked after Lewis from 2am until 6am, that during these early hours his son was unsettled and that he gave him Calpol.
Rowland said when he woke, Lewis was “moaning, groaning, whinging and kicking” and that he and Laura decided to take Lewis to Craigavon Area hospital as he was “very unwell”.
They took Lewis in his pram and walked to the hospital which he said took about an hour and a half
Mr McNeill asked “Did you think he needed an ambulance, Mr Rowland?” to which he replied “I probably should have...I probably thought that in my head.”
“Do you know who did?” asked the senior defence counsel and he again replied “no” adding that he didn’t see anyone injuring his son either.
During cross-examination, prosecution counsel David Russell KC asked the defendant: “Do you accept now that someone carried out a brutal attack on Lewis?
“I accept someone caused injury to Lewis,” he replied.
The Crown barrister said the attack led to Lewis sustaining bruising to his neck, to his head, to his chest in two places, that he suffered a rib fracture “because someone exerted severe squeezing forces on his chest.”
Mr Russell added: “He was shaken so violently that he suffered an appalling brain injury, one of the worst one of the doctors had ever seen. Not only that there was a spinal injury because of the force that was used. Who carried out that attack?”
Rowland replied: “That I don’t know.’’
Mr Russell put it to the witness that “you dissemble, you prevaricate, you put up smoke screens, you divert attention which is what you did in the police interviews. Isn’t this the way you behave?”
Rowland replied “Not really.”
When it was put to Rowland that he had been “trying to hide the truth”, he admitted “telling lies here and there” to police in the aftermath of his arrest.
The jury has already heard that both Rowland and the deceased child’s mother Laura Graham, 31, also of Millington Park in Portadown, have each pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully neglecting their son on November 20, 2015.
This charge relates to their failure to obtain the timely medical treatment that their 13-week old son required.
At hearing.