The 11-month-old boy drank some of the liquid and vomited after being handed the bottle in a branch of McDonald’s in Eltham, south-east London, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
Elaine Joyner, 53, of Deptford, south-east London, is charged with administering a poison or noxious substance so as to endanger life - but Judge Andrew Lees ruled today that she was unfit to plead.
A trial to decide whether Joyner
carried out the act went ahead in her absence. Peter Clark, prosecuting,
told the jury that the incident took place last September at the
McDonald’s branch.
He said: ‘Elaine Joyner, say the prosecution, gave to a complete stranger’s baby a feeding bottle that contained a poisonous or noxious substance, a fluid that contained bleach, or something very similar.
‘The baby, who was 11 and a half months old, took some of that fluid in his mouth and was immediately rendered ill by it. He retched and vomited over himself and turned very pale.’
His grandmother seized it from the pram to prevent further harm, Mr Clark said. The baby - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - made a good recovery with no long-term ill effects, he added.
‘Ingestion of bleach can prove fatal, and in the case of such a young child is particularly hazardous.’
Mr Clark said there was good quality CCTV from McDonald’s, which did not show the precise handing of the bottle, which was just out of shot, but one could see the frame of the pram.
‘You see someone passing a bottle, and you can be sure it’s Elaine Joyner,’ he told the jury.
At the defendant’s home was located distinctive clothing and a carrier bag she had worn and carried that day, counsel added. Other CCTV footage showed her in the street, walking with a distinctive ‘waddle’, and going into McDonald’s.
A statement from the child’s grandmother was read, in which said she was looking after the baby in McDonald’s while his mother was at the counter and she saw him retching and dribbling.
‘I reached for a bottle that was in his pram. As I looked into it I noticed it was orange in colour with white milk particles in it. It was extremely frothy on the top.
‘I realised that he had drunk something that we had not given him. Three black girls said that a woman had walked past and given him a bottle.’
The
mother said in statement: ‘Some random person had given my baby a
bottle, which he had drunk from and was vomiting. As far as I was
concerned, my baby had been poisoned.’
A statement was read from Joyner’s partner Fred Warwick, 68, who had gone out that day. Joyner had told him she would be at home for most of the day and watching the racing.
She told him as they were having tea in the evening that she had ‘popped out’ to Eltham. ‘Elaine didn’t tell me what time she left or what time she arrived home,’ he said.
‘I have decided on the evidence of two specialist medical practitioners, one instructed by the defence, one by the prosecution, that she is mentally ill, such that she cannot understand the proceedings, cannot understand the evidence, and cannot give valid instructions to her legal team.’
It was appropriate that she did not attend, he added. In such circumstances, there would not be a finding of guilty or not guilty, but the jury should decide whether she did the act she was alleged to have done.
Trainee Detective Constable Sandra Voak - formerly a uniformed Police Constable - told the court she had identified Joyner from a CCTV photograph from that day last September as someone she had dealings with in 2011.
She said she spent an hour with her in July that year, including 15 minutes sitting next to her in a car.
Asked by Stella Harris, defending, if she was sure that the person she had seen in the CCTV image was the same woman she had dealings with in 2011, she said: ‘I am absolutely certain that is the same person.’
The trial was adjourned to tomorrow.
dailymail.co.uk
He said: ‘Elaine Joyner, say the prosecution, gave to a complete stranger’s baby a feeding bottle that contained a poisonous or noxious substance, a fluid that contained bleach, or something very similar.
‘The baby, who was 11 and a half months old, took some of that fluid in his mouth and was immediately rendered ill by it. He retched and vomited over himself and turned very pale.’
His grandmother seized it from the pram to prevent further harm, Mr Clark said. The baby - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - made a good recovery with no long-term ill effects, he added.
‘Ingestion of bleach can prove fatal, and in the case of such a young child is particularly hazardous.’
Mr Clark said there was good quality CCTV from McDonald’s, which did not show the precise handing of the bottle, which was just out of shot, but one could see the frame of the pram.
‘You see someone passing a bottle, and you can be sure it’s Elaine Joyner,’ he told the jury.
At the defendant’s home was located distinctive clothing and a carrier bag she had worn and carried that day, counsel added. Other CCTV footage showed her in the street, walking with a distinctive ‘waddle’, and going into McDonald’s.
A statement from the child’s grandmother was read, in which said she was looking after the baby in McDonald’s while his mother was at the counter and she saw him retching and dribbling.
‘I reached for a bottle that was in his pram. As I looked into it I noticed it was orange in colour with white milk particles in it. It was extremely frothy on the top.
‘I realised that he had drunk something that we had not given him. Three black girls said that a woman had walked past and given him a bottle.’
Home: Elaine Joyner, 53, of Vaughan Williams
Close, Deptford, south-east London, is charged with administering a
poison or noxious substance so as to endanger life. The road on which
she lives is pictured
A statement was read from Joyner’s partner Fred Warwick, 68, who had gone out that day. Joyner had told him she would be at home for most of the day and watching the racing.
She told him as they were having tea in the evening that she had ‘popped out’ to Eltham. ‘Elaine didn’t tell me what time she left or what time she arrived home,’ he said.
'Some
random person had given my baby a bottle, which he had drunk from and
was vomiting. As far as I was concerned, my baby had been poisoned'
The judge told the jury: ‘In this case the defendant has been found by me to be unfit to stand her trial.
Mother of baby
‘I have decided on the evidence of two specialist medical practitioners, one instructed by the defence, one by the prosecution, that she is mentally ill, such that she cannot understand the proceedings, cannot understand the evidence, and cannot give valid instructions to her legal team.’
It was appropriate that she did not attend, he added. In such circumstances, there would not be a finding of guilty or not guilty, but the jury should decide whether she did the act she was alleged to have done.
Trainee Detective Constable Sandra Voak - formerly a uniformed Police Constable - told the court she had identified Joyner from a CCTV photograph from that day last September as someone she had dealings with in 2011.
She said she spent an hour with her in July that year, including 15 minutes sitting next to her in a car.
Asked by Stella Harris, defending, if she was sure that the person she had seen in the CCTV image was the same woman she had dealings with in 2011, she said: ‘I am absolutely certain that is the same person.’
The trial was adjourned to tomorrow.
dailymail.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment