'My baby suffered horrific injuries at the hands of their father'

FOR a whole year Hannah had no idea what caused her baby’s almost fatal brain injuries.

- LUCY JOHN

The mum, whose name has been changed for legal reasons, left the infant in the seemingly safe hands of their biological father Dafydd Rutherford while she popped out to the shop for just 30 minutes.

When Hannah returned to her home she noticed instantly that something was wrong and immediately sought medical help.

It saw the few-weeks-old baby later diagnosed with four bleeds on the brain, which caused lasting medical complications. At one point medics even worried that the baby might not survive.

Hannah was then treated as a “suspect” after she and Rutherford were arrested and banned from having lone contact with children below the age of 16.

That was until Rutherford admitted he shook the infant and caused the injuries, proving Hannah's innocence.

The admission came as a huge shock to Hannah, who said Rutherford had seemed like a good father.

“Before that point he was absolutely fine,” Hannah said. “I didn’t see any aggression in him, because if that was the case I wouldn't have left the baby with him.”

This month, a number of years after the chilling incident, Rutherford was finally sentenced and put behind bars.

Following the hearing, Hannah has decided to bravely speak out about her ordeal to warn others about Rutherford’s actions, and to raise awareness of the dangers associated with shaking babies.

With her support we successfully challenged a reporting restriction, allowing us to publish the relationship between Rutherford and the infant.

Describing how that day unfolded, Hannah said: “It was in the afternoon, about 5pm or 6pm but I don’t know for sure because of the trauma.

“The baby wasn’t due to wake up for another two or three hours and I had only popped out [to the shop] for about 30 minutes.

“I came home and noticed the baby was breathing strangely, and I thought something was not right.