A FORMER soldier squeezed and shook his three-week-old son so violently he was permanently disabled, a court heard.
Dean Hodkinson is alleged to have used such “grossly excessive force” to his new-born baby it was as if he had been in serious car crash.
The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered bleeding and damage to the brain, up to 17 fractured ribs, and fractures to both his collar bones and shoulders.
Hodkinson, 20, of Wallasey, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent and inflicting grievous bodily harm between August 3 and 9 last year.
But Stuart Driver, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Hodkinson’s son was a normal, healthy child who was checked by a doctor, health visitor and midwife in the week before he was hurt.
On August 9 last year, Hodkinson was alone with the child when he came running upstairs to the baby’s mother, saying: “What does it mean when the baby goes all floppy?”
