A HOTEL manager has been found guilty of assaulting a six-month-old baby he was minding.
Jurors convicted Darren Lyle of causing bruises to the baby girl’s face while he was alone caring for her.
The baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered bruises to her cheek, inside both ears and blood spots under her eye. Lyle, of Selwick Close, Southport, admitted causing the injuries, but denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The 31-year-old said he had accidentally hurt the child, who is now about 20 months old, in a panic after she had fallen off the sofa.
But prosecutor Martine Snowdon told jurors “considerable force” would have been required to inflict the injuries and not just “rough handling”.
She told jurors: “The prosecution will make you sure he caused those injuries unlawfully, and not caused by accident by this defendant.”
