The parents of a premature baby testified in court Thursday that she was left severely disabled after nurse Lucy Letby allegedly tried to kill her.
Letby, 32, who is on trial in the UK, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others in the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit during a year-long killing spree between June 2015 and June 2015. 2016.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court heard evidence relating to a child, known as Baby G, whom Letby allegedly tied up to kill on three separate occasions.
THE VIDEO SHOWS THE ROOMS OF THE NEONATAL UNIT WHERE LUCY LETBY ALLEGEDLY MURDERED THE BABY
A court sketch shows Lucy Letby appearing at Warrington Magistrates Court via video link, on November 12, 2020. The neonatal nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others. .
(SWNS)
Prosecutors allege that Letby put more milk and air into the baby’s system, causing irreversible brain damage.
The court heard testimony that Baby G was born prematurely at 23 weeks at six days, weighing just 0.535kg, or just over a pound, at Arrowe Park Hospital before being transferred to the Countess of Chester in August 2015.
She was 100 days old, the equivalent of 38 weeks gestation, when Letby first tried to kill her, which prosecutor Nick Johnson said made her the “youngest and smallest” of the 17 babies in the case.
The jury heard how Baby G collapsed around 2 a.m. on September 7, 2015, after Letby started a night shift at the hospital.
UK DOCTOR TESTIFIES IN TRIAL OF LUCY LETBY’S ‘NURSE MURDERER’: ‘NOTHING I’VE SEEN BEFORE OR SINCE’
In statements read out in court, the baby’s parents, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, described how they believed she was doing well up to that point.
British neonatal nurse Lucy Letby and a stock image of newborn babies
(ER Productions Limited via Getty Images/SWNS)
Her father described receiving a call from the hospital that morning to say that his daughter was “throwing up” and had been aspirated, but not to worry.
He had traveled to the hospital with the baby’s mother, he said, and was further concerned to learn that it was actually “projectile vomiting.”
Baby G stabilized, but when he saw her afterwards, he realized something was wrong.
LUCY LETBY TRIAL: PARENTS REQUESTED TRANSFER BEFORE NURSE ALLEGEDLY POISONED BABY, ACCORDING TO TESTIMONY
“I knew something had changed,” the father said.
“When he was in the Countess of Chester incubator, he would smile when he heard my voice,” she said. “After the vomit, she was different and she didn’t respond to my voice anymore.”
He said an MRI later revealed the extent of his brain damage and that he now has quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
Countess of Chester Hospital on July 3, 2018 in Chester, UK.
(Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
The child also has microcephaly, a condition in which the baby’s head is smaller than normal, has trouble breathing, has vision problems, requires a feeding tube and needs 24-hour care.
Previously, the jury was told how concerns were raised among medical staff after Baby G began projectile vomiting and had difficulty breathing, with her abdomen appearing “distended and discolored.”
The baby was intubated and moved to a different room, according to medical notes, but she remained ill for several hours.
A doctor who was called to the neonatal unit also noted the baby’s “large projectile vomit” and “purple and distended” abdomen, with “blood-stained fluid” from the trachea.
A police officer in front of Lucy Letby’s home on July 4, 2018.
(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
After finishing her shift, Letby exchanged text messages with a colleague in which she described the baby’s collapse as “terrible” and then asked: “Any ideas what caused it?”
Baby G was returned to Arrowe Park Hospital in the early morning of September 8 and was well enough the following week to be transferred back to the Countess of Chester.
THE NEONATAL NURSE OF THE ALLEGED KILLER LUCY LETBY WROTE A CONFESSION NOTE: ‘I AM EVIL. I DID THIS.’
It is alleged that Letby then made two more assassination attempts on Baby G on the same day, just five hours apart, on September 21.
Prosecutor Johnson previously told jurors that she suffered the “same problem” she had on September 7, but this time she followed a documented transmission from Letby.
He said: “There were no significant problems with G at all. She had thrown up because she had been given too much milk and air.”
Jurors were shown video of a room in the hospital’s neonatal unit where Letby allegedly murdered a newborn baby before attempting to murder his twin brother.
(UK Crown Prosecution Service).
It hadn’t happened “by accident,” he added, and there were parallels to other babies Letby was aiming for.
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It is alleged that she was the “common denominator” and that the baby’s death coincided with their shifts.
Letby, from Hereford, England, denies the 22 charges against him and the trial is expected to last six months.
