New trial dates set in broken-baby case

Young Fredericton father accused of harming infant son was deemed fit to stand trial after recent psychiatric assessment

A Fredericton man who missed the opening day of his trial last month on allegations he severely harmed his infant son will now go to trial in two months’ time.

The 21-year-old defendant faces a charge of aggravated assault by wounding, maiming, disfiguring or endangering the life of his son.

The charge alleges an offence between July 31 and Aug. 10, 2020, when the baby was just a couple of months old. 

The child’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, so the Fredericton Independent isn’t naming the defendant in compliance with that order.

Courtroom A in the Burton Courthouse. (Photo: Don MacPherson/The Fredericton Independent)

Child-protection workers from the Department of Social Development also intervened in the case, which means the baby’s identity is also protected by the provisions of the provincial Family Services Act.

The defendant’s trial before a Court of King’s Bench judge alone, without a jury, had been scheduled to begin March 6, but he wasn’t present. Defence lawyer Edward Derrah said his client had contacted him early that morning to inform him he was ill and at hospital.

But when the accused appeared before Justice Thomas Christie on March 7, that excuse no longer held water with the judge, as the man had left the hospital the morning before and hadn’t come to court. 

The defendant seemed like he was in a haze, and had trouble articulating his plea so the trial could begin a day late.

The judge remanded him to the Restigouche Hospital Centre, a forensic psychiatric facility in Campbellton, so he could be assessed for fitness to stand trial.

On Monday, the defendant appeared in the Court of King’s Bench at the Burton Courthouse, free on conditions, having undergone the assessment as ordered.

A report filed with the court indicated he was fit to stand trial.

Justice Terrence Morrison rescheduled the trial for June 12-16.

During a previous proceeding in the case in provincial court in December 2020, a judge heard that the infant’s maternal grandparents brought the child to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital a few months before because they’d noticed the baby’s legs were swollen.

Doctors discovered both of the baby’s femurs were broken. Further scans uncovered previous fractures of the ribs and legs, and the baby’s right eye was swollen.

None of those allegations against the defendant has been proven in court.

Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.