A CO Armagh man who punched a "defenceless" baby girl to the head after claiming she "wouldn't stop crying'' in her cot will be jailed next month, a judge ruled today.
Belfast Crown Court heard that as a result of the unprovoked attack by Darren Eamonn Fagan, the impact on the young child and her parents had been "life changing'' and her future prognosis is yet to be fully determined by doctors.
Fagan, formerly of Clonavon Avenue, Portadown, told a probation officer that he attacked the child because he wanted peace to "watch the X-Factor''.
The 29-year-old had been due to stand trial charged with attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The offences related to an assault on the toddler at her home in Bessbrook, Co Armagh on Sunday, October 19 2014.
However, Fagan was recently re-arrainged and pleaded guilty to the charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.
His guilty plea was accepted by the prosecution who asked that the attempted murder charge be "left on the books in the usual terms''.
The court heard that at the time of the attack the girl was aged just two years and four month and her mum lovingly described her in a victim impact statement as a "wee granny''.
Prosecution counsel Ciaran Murphy QC said that the mother was separated from the girl's father and at time was with Fagan "who she had met in person eight to ten times''.
Judge Geoffrey Miller QC said that the child had spent part of the weekend with her grandparents and also her father who had all reported her to have been in good health.
That same weekend Fagan had stayed at the woman's house overnight and on the Sunday "started drinking cider from 1.30 pm''.
The mother told police that the girl's father had dropped her home on Sunday evening and she was "in good form'' but had then become unsettled when she was put to bed, describing her face as "red and sweating" when she went to check on her.
After going to the kitchen to look for Ibruprofen child medicine, she said she noticed that Fagan was no longer in the living room and it was as she went upstairs that her daughter "stopped crying" and she heard a "sudden noise... like a thud."
"She says that within three seconds of hearing the thud she was in the room and saw the defendant standing up, crouched over her daughter's bed. She noticed a large lump on the left side of her head."
"She shouted at him 'oh my God you've hit her' and the defendant replied 'no, it's not what it looks like'.
"She ran with her daughter down the stairs towards the front door but the defendant would not let her out saying, "I can explain''.
Mr Murphy said the mother managed to get out the front door and ran up the street to a house where people she knew lived.
"The child was violently vomiting at this stage,'' the senior prosecutor told the judge. "The mother tried to use her mobile phone but it had no charge. She told people at the house to ring for an ambulance. Police arrived on the scene and the child was put on a stretcher.''
The "lifeless' child was brought into the house where a police officer performed mouth to mouth resuscitation on her before she was transferred by ambulance to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.
Police officers at the scene inquired about what had happened and a relative of the injured child told them: "That bastard was punching her.''
When police eventually caught up with Fagan, he told them: "I am the one you are looking for.''
Fagan was formally arrested, cautioned, and replied: "I did not do anything.''
He was handcuffed and put in to a police car to be taken for questioning but became violent en route and had to be placed in leg restraints.
A paeditrician who examined the child at Daisy Hill Hospital said she had a "large bulge to the left side of her head and had sustained an acute subdural haemorrhage (bleeding on the brain)".
She was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hosptial in Belfast and an MRI scan revealed that the child had sustained "multiple fractures'' to the head.
Mr Murphy told the court: "It is clear that this was a serious injury to her head, It was a severe trauma injury to her head.''
The court heard doctors said the child would require "intervention and support in the future'' and there was also a "significant risk of developing epilepsy'' in the future.
The senior prosecutor told the judge that Fagan was "interviewed extensively by police'' who claimed the child had been screaming and the mother and fallen down the stairs with the child who hit her head.
Fagan "mendaciously'' claimed throughout his interviews that the mother had been "drinking and taking drugs''. But Mr Murphy said that was not the case and in fact the mother was pregnant at the time.
"These allegations were traumatic to the girl's mother. For a considerable period he distanced himself and put responsibility for what happened to the child on her mother.''
The court heard Fagan told a probation officer that he "punched the child to her head as she would not stop crying'', claiming he wanted peaced to sit with the child's mother and watch X Factor on television.
He was asked by probation how he hit the victim and Mr Murphy said that "it is clear from this that he assaulted the child with extreme force.''
Mr Murphy added: "This was a serious assault on a defenceless toddler.''
Judge Miller was told that Fagan had an "extensive criminal record'' including convictions for violence. These included ten counts of assault and two of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. One of those convictions was for assaulting the 20-month-old child of a previous partner.
The Probation Service had assessed Fagan as "dangerous'' who posed a "high likelihood of reoffending and a significant risk of serious harm'' to the public in the future''.
"This was a serious aasault with high harm and high culpability. It is at the upper level of the rnage in terms of a determinate sentence,'' added Mr Murphy.
Defence counsel Ciaran Mallon QC told the court that there was "no premeditation'' on Fagan's behalf in assaulting the child, describing it as "explosive incident'' during which the defendant had lost self control.
"He had no hatred for the child whatsoever. In fact, in the days before his incident he took the mother and child to McDonald's and they had played in the park.''
He said that Fagan had had an "absolutely wretched childhood and upbringing'' and from the age of two onwards had been spent in either foster homes or secure foster accommodation. This resulted, said Mr Mallon, in Fagan having "no coping mechanism'' in dealing with his problems and his addictions.
The judge was told Fagan was forced into taking heroin by his mother at a young age and on the night in question had taken a "cocktail of drink and drugs''.
He said Fagan had expressed his remorse for the attack on the child and had also expressed this remorse in a letter which was handed to the judge.
"I want to make it absolutely,'' said Mr Mallaon, "that it was a particularly mendacious thing to do to blame the assault on the mother. It is accepted by the accused in his letter that he put the mother through hell by pointing the finger at her.''
He urged the judge to afford Fagan up to 25 per cent reduction in any sentence imposed given his guilty plea, his remorse and his personal circumstances at the time, adding that the sentencing range was between four and a half years up to 13 years.
But Judge Miller remarked: "I have to say Mr Mallon I fully accept and take full cognisance of the turmoil that the defendant was going through but I don't see how a 25 per cent reduction can be given, given that full credit is 33 per cent.''
The judge said that a copy of Fagan's letter to the court would be given to the victim's family, adding: "This is a case of considerable importance and I wish to consider not only the papers already before the court but other material handed into today and I will deliver my sentencing remarks as soon as I can.''
Remanding Fagan back into custody, Judge Miller said he would pass sentence on Friday June 9.