Baby left blind after severe attack

A man has been found guilty of an assault which left a four-week-old baby girl with a fractured skull, broken leg and eye damage so severe she is registered blind.

Ross Dunn, 28, from Edinburgh, carried out the attack when he was left in charge of the infant.

The child's mother told the High Court in Edinburgh the girl had been left with "severe, lifelong disabilities".

Sentence was deferred for background reports to be prepared.

The court heard Dunn shook the little girl and struck her off a surface after he was left looking after the baby and her older sister when her mother went out.

Dunn, of Wester Drylaw Place, had denied attempting to murder the child at a flat in Edinburgh on 17 November 2013 but was found guilty after a trial.

The mother of the child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the court: "She is not mobile. She is very floppy like a small baby. She will likely never stand, walk, even sit by herself."

Dunn had claimed that he had a "really heavy fall" while holding the child.

Prosecutors maintained that the pattern of multiple injuries found on the child was not consistent with an accident.

The advocate depute said that injuries found on the baby were consistent with shaking.

Bruce Erroch said the consequences were "the most appalling combination of disability for a baby to live with for the rest of her life".

The prosecutor said that Dunn was "a man who by his own admission has problems with his temper".

He told jurors: "He lost control. He lost his temper."