The baby who suffered multiple fractures to her skull when she was hurled into the cot by her mother's partner will possibly see her physical and mental development slowed down by up to 90 per cent, a court heard this morning.

Police Inspector Sylvana Briffa said the 11-month-old baby girl had multiple fractures to her skull and also had an accumulation of blood around her brain.

She said that although the baby has been released from hospital since the September 12 incident, she is regularly being checked by doctors and consultants to assess her development.

The inspector was testifying before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit in the compilation of evidence against a 27-year-old man from Zabbar, who cannot be named by court order. He stands charged with the attempted murder of his partner’s baby girl when he allegedly shook her and threw her into a cot, causing her critical injuries. The incident happened in a home in  Ħamrun home early on September 12.

The girl underwent an operation due to several fractures of her skull.

Inspector Briffa repeated what was said in a previous court sitting that the man's admission was the second version he had given interrogators after retracting his first version, where he blamed his girlfriend for causing the injuries.

He admitted he had lied under oath when he told the inquiring magistrate that his girlfriend had injured the young child.

He told police he, his girlfriend and the three children, aged seven, four and 11 months, spent the entire day at the Zabbar feast where he drank and abused of cocaine and cannabis. They returned home at about 5am and after some time he got hungry and asked his partner to prepare something to eat.

While she was downstairs, the baby started crying, nagging and making noises that he found "unbearable", so he picked her up, shook her and violently threw  into the cot.

A consultant paediatrician who examined the baby soon after she arrived in hospital by ambulance, Cecil Vella, said the baby had "a serious head injury" as well as a fractured femur and heavy bruising. He said the fracture to her skull was "substantial" and she was, for a period of time, in danger of loss of life as a result of this "non-accidental" injury.

The 24-year-old mother, who also cannot be named by court order and who was born in Romania but lives in Malta, stands charged with neglect of her three children.
The case continues in December.