Doctor agrees abuse led to girl’s brain injury

The Chronicle Herald
By Davene Jeffrey Staff Reporter
December 14, 2011

A young father on trial in Halifax for killing his infant daughter will either testify in his own defence Monday or his lawyer will wrap up the case.

Ashiqur Rahman, 25, is charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault in the July 2009 death of his daughter Aurora Breakthrough.

After days of often complicated testimony about medical evidence from expert witnesses for the Crown, defence lawyer Don Murray called Dr. Robert Macaulay, a Halifax neuropathologist, to the witness box Tuesday.

Macaulay spent much of the day in Nova Scotia Supreme Court testifying about the extensive damage he witnessed while examining the baby’s brain.

As other doctors have testified previously, Macaulay found evidence of brain damage both old and new. Some of the damage was weeks old and likely the result of trauma, he said, and the newer damage was caused by a lack of blood and oxygen to the brain.

But at the end of the day, under cross-examination by the Crown, Macaulay agreed with another neuropathologist’s opinion that the baby’s injuries were likely the result of abuse.

"I don’t think there is any other single explanation," Macaulay said.

Aurora’s mother, Jane Gomes, has testified that Rahman slapped and shook the baby.

Gomes pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life and received a conditional discharge with six months on probation. She also agreed as part of her plea to testify at Rahman’s trial.

But Murray is expected to argue that the older brain damage was due to abusive acts by someone other than Rahman and that the brain damage that sent the baby to hospital in July 2009 was the result of her defective heart.

"What caused the child to die was the damage that resulted in her arrival to hospital on the 23rd of July, not necessarily prompted by any violence," Murray said outside court.

The court has also heard that Aurora suffered a large number of broken ribs, some likely caused by squeezing and newer breaks probably due to CPR. She also had several other broken bones.

Murray has also said that the bone breaks could have been caused by an undiagnosed bone disease.

The trial will resume Monday. At that time, Murray will either rest his case or put Rahman in the witness box. Murray would not tip his hand Tuesday.

The Crown and defence have agreed to make their closing arguments in writing.