Fourteen-week-old baby girl died from brain injury caused by ‘violent shaking’ coroner rules – months after her father was cleared of her murder
- Cárágh Walsh from Belfast also suffered leg fractures as result of being shaken
- Died in hospital in 2014 two days after emergency services came to her home
- Father Christopher O’Neill later charged with murder but he was cleared
Cárágh Walsh, from Glasveigh Park in Poleglass, died after emergency services visited her home
A 14-week-old baby girl died from a brain injury caused by ‘violent shaking’, a coroner has ruled.
Cárágh Walsh, from Glasveigh Park in Poleglass, Belfast, suffered leg fractures while being shaken and a dislocated right elbow.
The baby girl died at the Royal Victoria Hospital two days after emergency services were called to her home at Glasveigh Drive in west Belfast on February 2014.
Her father Christopher O’Neill was initially charged with his daughter’s murder, but he was cleared by a jury in 2017.
Following an inquest into Caragh’s death, coroner Joe McCrisken ruled the cause of death to be hypoxic ischaemic necrosis due to cardio-respiratory arrest, cerebral oedema and spinal haemorrhage due to violent shaking.
Caragh’s mother Tammie-Louise Walsh and a number of other family members wept in the public gallery as the findings were read out.
Mr O’Neill described the inquest as ‘sensitive and distressing’ and warned those present at Belfast Coroner’s Court that he intended to read his lengthy findings to silence.
Ms Walsh (left) was away from the home when the child’s father, Mr O’Neill (right), rang the emergency services from their west Belfast home
Mr McCrisken told the inquest: ‘The events of 5 February 2014 have irrevocably changed the lives of the Walsh and O’Neill families for the rest of their lives.
‘A tiny baby closed her eyes forever and that tragedy shall weigh heavily on both Mr O’Neill and Ms Walsh for the rest of their lives. Neither will fully recover from Caragh’s death.’
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Summarising the evidence Mr McCrisken said Caragh had woken and been fed as normal before being left in the sole care of her father.
‘He (Mr O’Neill) told the jury at his trial that Caragh was asleep in her bouncer while he was watching a DVD,’ Mr McCrisken said.
‘He said that she woke up crying. He described a painful cry. He lifted her and rocked her gently in his arms.
Pictured: Mother Tammie Louise Walsh (wearing red and black dress) at Laganside Court on Monday
‘At some point during this he said he noticed that Caragh was having difficulty breathing. He gave police a detailed account of how he shook Caragh in an attempt to rouse her. He described the force used as a five on a scale of one to 10.’
Mr McCrisken also dismissed a suggestion made during Mr O’Neill’s trial by a medical witness that Caragh had suffered from rickets.
The coroner said that Caragh had suffered injuries to her rib, leg and elbow approximately seven to 10 days before her death and noted that the injury to her elbow ‘was extremely serious and must have required an exceptional degree of force’.
At the end of the hearing the coroner paid tribute to the ‘exemplary care’ given to the 14-week-old baby by medical staff at the hospital.
He said: ‘In my opinion, no criticism of the medical team at the Roya Victoria Hospital or those paramedics who treated Caragh is justified.’
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