A doctor has dismissed a mother’s claim that her ‘murdered’ baby daughter was able to crawl and feed after her boyfriend ‘stamped on her head’ – leaving her with ‘catastrophic skull and neck injuries.
Chelsea Crilly, 20, told medics her 12-month-old baby could drink milk and crawl at speed after the alleged attack at a flat in Radcliffe, a jury was told.
Crilly’s boyfriend Jamie Chadwick, 22, is accused of murdering Oriana Crilly-Cifrova in a violent assault that caused a fractured skull, a fractured vertabrae in the neck and two fractured ribs.
As the trial entered its third week at Manchester Crown Court on Monday, Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, said the baby’s injuries would have stopped her crawling or being able to feed.
Chelsea Crilly (pictured), 20, told medics her 12-month-old baby could drink milk and crawled at speed after the alleged attack at a flat in Radcliffe, a jury was told
Oriana died at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital when treatment was withdrawn at 6.19pm on October 17.
Crilly pleaded not guilty to causing or allowing the death and Chadwick denied murder.
Dr Dixon told the jury that Orianna’s injuries were unsurvivable and that that the medication and treatment she received was to make her final hours more comfortable.
The doctor also dismissed a claim that Orianna had been able to ‘crawl at speed’ following the alleged incident.
The baby suffered ‘catastrophic’ skull injuries in the violent assault, according to the prosecution.
Asked by prosecutor Peter Wright QC how visible the injuries would have been, Dr Dixon said: ‘It would be readily apparent to any capable adult that she was very seriously ill.’
The child was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital on October 16, 2019, before being rushed to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where doctors realised the extent of her injuries.
The doctor confirmed there had been no concerns that the baby’s previous medical history may have contributed to the injuries.
Orianna had received one set of immunisations but had missed two others, the court heard.
Crilly’s boyfriend Jamie Chadwick, 22, is accused of murdering Oriana Crilly-Cifrova in a violent assault that caused a fractured skull, a fractured vertabrae in the neck and two fractured ribs. Pictured, Crilly outside court
The baby had suffered bruising, swelling and a fracture to the skull, bleeding between the brain and skull and an injury to the brain itself, the doctor confirmed.
She also suffered serious wounds from two ‘direct and forceful blows’ consistent with being picked up and swung, hit ‘very hard’ with a blunt object or having someone stamp on her head, the court was told.
The jurors were told Orianna’s mother had provided an account to the doctor of what had happened but Dr Dixon told the court that this account was ‘incompatible with the injuries found’.
Crilly said Orianna was able to suckle or drink milk but Dr Dixon told the jury it was her opinion that Orianna would not have been able to suck or swallow.
The doctor also said the mother’s claim her baby didn’t lose consciousness was ‘incompatible in my opinion’, adding that a suggestion that the baby was capable of being settled was also ‘incompatible’ with the injuries.
The doctor confirmed she was also made aware that a professor had analysed a section of Orianna’s spine which revealed she had suffered a fracture to one of the vertebrae in the neck and also two fractured ribs.
The injuries were ‘consistent with shaking’, she said.
Asked whether a child of that age would be able to articulate pain from such injuries, Dr Dixon said: ‘Fractures are painful and fractured ribs, from my experience, would cause a baby to be in distress, causing pain, and the commonest way of babies to express distress is crying.’
She went on, however, that pain was not always experienced at rest.
Asked how obvious the pain would be, Dr Dixon said pain started from the moment a bone was fractured but that there was little evidence to demonstrate how long pain would last in babies.
It was put to the witness that there had been an account that the baby had ‘crawled at speed’.
The doctor said it was the reaction of very young children and infants to reduce activity to reduce discomfort or pain.
She said she would expect a crawling movement would move the fractured rib ends and that it was ‘most likely’ cause a child to reduce activity to avoid pain.
Wright QC previously told jurors that Chadwick was responsible for causing the injuries that killed the baby and that at the time of the incident he was under investigation by the police and social services in relation to injuries sustained by a separate child with a different mother.
Mr Wright said Crilly had been told by several different sources, including social services and a police officer, that it was dangerous to leave her child alone with Chadwick.
These warnings came regularly from the point the pair got together in late 2018 through to when they began living together in 2019 and even until the days before the horrific incident, the prosecutor claimed.
Despite these warnings, the couple, along with baby Oriana, moved into a flat together in Radcliffe, where Chadwick’s sister Ayesha Mohammed was already living.
As the trial entered its third week at Manchester Crown Court on Monday, Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, said the baby’s injuries would have stopped her crawling or being able to feed. Pictured, police at the scene
Throughout this period the prosecution say Crilly had ‘taken active steps to conceal’ what was happening to social services and told them she was not living with Chadwick and that he did not have regularly contact with the child.
The pair had known each other for years and she initially told people they were just ‘friends’ before later denying that he had contact with Oriana.
‘It was symptomatic of a young and impressionable woman who was prepared to risk the wellbeing of her child in favour of a relationship with Jamie Chadwick,’ Mr Wright added.
On October 16, Mrs Mohammed was going out to visit Radcliffe Medical Centre and Crilly decided to go with her, leaving the sleeping baby in the care of her boyfriend, the prosecution claim.
Chadwick was not pleased to be looking after the child and when the pair returned from the short trip to the health centre he told Crilly that he had been on the toilet and that Oriana had crawled towards him and ‘banged her head’ – falling down a short flight of three steps in the flat.
After checking on the baby, Mrs Mohammed decided that something was seriously wrong. The child had gone ‘completely white’ and a decision was made to call an ambulance, Mr Wright told the court.
But as the paramedics arrived, Mr Wright claims Crilly told her boyfriend to go into the bedroom and close the door so that he would not be seen.
Over the next 24 hours, the prosecutor says the young woman lied to authorities and told them it had been her who was on the toilet when the baby had fallen.
It was not until Mrs Mohammed went to the police with a different version of events that both Crilly and Chadwick were arrested.
Mr Wright said subsequent analysis by medical experts showed that a fall down the relatively short flight of carpeted stairs was ‘inconsistent with the mechanism which actually caused Oriana’s injuries’.
Crilly would later admit she had lied in the hospital, the prosecutor claims.
‘Chelsea admitted she lied to the doctors,’ Mr Wright said. ‘She said she had done so in order to stop Oriana being taken away from her and she never thought that Jamie would hurt her.’
According to the prosecutor, medical opinions on Oriana’s injuries showed she had fractures to both sides of the back of her skull.
The force needed to cause the wounds was similar to the sort of pressure that might be generated from a car crash or a ‘considerable fall’, he said.
Crilly said Orianna was able to suckle or drink milk but Dr Dixon told the jury it was her opinion that Orianna would not have been able to suck or swallow. Pictured, police at the scene
Mr Wright told the jury these examinations found that Oriana had injuries to both her ribs and spine – which experts say may have occurred up to two days before her death.
He says the time frame shows the baby was injured twice on separate occasions before the horrific incident which ultimately killed her.
The prosecutor said that the night before October 16, both Crilly and Chadwick had taken a ‘cocktail’ of cannabis, cocaine and vodka, while leaving Mrs Mohammed to look after the child.
‘At the time of her death, they were living together under the same roof,’ Mr Wright told the jury.
‘Crilly was aware of the risk, she chose to ignore it. She was fully aware of the risk from him and chose to ignore it.’
He added that the alleged attack by Chadwick on the baby was no accident and had been intended to cause significant wounds to the 12-month-old.
Mr Wright said: ‘In inflicting those catastrophic injuries on Oriana, Jamie Chadwick had at least intended to cause her really serious harm.’
Chadwick is currently in custody and Crilly is on bail.
The trial continues.