A COUPLE have been jailed after a baby girl was discovered suffering from burns and bruising - injuries that were not given professional treatment for FOUR days.
The child had scorch marks on her buttocks, legs and the soles of both feet, but despite her condition, Stephen O'Flynn and Juliet Robinson, both aged 20, initially neglected to take the child from its Worcester home to a doctor.
Robinson wept and shook as she was sentenced to 60 days detention.
O'Flynn, a former drug addict with a record for violence, was given 75 days detention.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows said a doctor said other burns were consistent with "repeated exposure to a hot, rod-like object" which was never found.
He also concluded that bruising on the child was caused by a belt or buckle, Worcester Crown Court was told.
O'Flynn claimed the 19-month-old child was burned when she accidentally fell and became trapped between a chair and a faulty radiator at his flat in Brittania Road. He denied inflicting deliberate injuries.
His girlfriend, Juliet Robinson, attempted to treat the burns herself. But when they thought the baby was falling into a coma four days later, she was taken to hospital, said Mr Burrows.
O'Flynn, now of Skyrrold Road, Malvern, and Robinson, who formerly lived in Chedworth Drive, Worcester, admitted cruelty to a child by neglecting to get her medical attention.
Judge David Matthews said some of the injuries were not accidental and both defendants lied repeatedly to police about the date of the injuries. And police had to batter down the flat door as the couple lay in bed together and refused to open up.
"This was an appalling failure by each of you to get prompt medical attention which this little girl clearly needed," he said.
Mr Burrows said the baby suffered burns in November 2001.
O'Flynn admitted to police he smacked the child, while Robinson
A COUPLE have been jailed after a baby girl was discovered suffering from burns and bruising - injuries that were not given professional treatment for FOUR days.
The child had scorch marks on her buttocks, legs and the soles of both feet, but despite her condition, Stephen O'Flynn and Juliet Robinson, both aged 20, initially neglected to take the child from its Worcester home to a doctor.
Robinson wept and shook as she was sentenced to 60 days detention.
O'Flynn, a former drug addict with a record for violence, was given 75 days detention.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows said a doctor said other burns were consistent with "repeated exposure to a hot, rod-like object" which was never found.
He also concluded that bruising on the child was caused by a belt or buckle, Worcester Crown Court was told.
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