The sister of a baby boy rendered unconscious and bloody with a wad of tissues down his throat says their babysitter is not to blame.
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Luke Paul Szabo is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court, accused of stuffing the tissues down the baby's throat in June last year because the 11-month-old was crying.
The Canberra chef was babysitting five children including the siblings at the time.
Mr Szabo denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and choking or suffocating the baby.
In an interview played to the court, the baby's 10-year-old sister told police Mr Szabo did nothing wrong. She said he did a good thing by calling her to help clear the baby's airways.
"It's scary. I don't want anyone to think that Luke did anything wrong, because he didn't," the 10-year-old told police.
"There was no other adult around the house.
"[My baby brother] does grab everything and chew on everything."
The 10-year-old said there were tissues in her mother's room, where the baby had been sleeping, on the night of the incident.
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The court previously heard from a neighbour who attended the Canberra house and found Mr Szabo resuscitating the baby on the carpet, albeit with what he thought was a little too much force.
"[The baby] was in a nappy. His eyes were bulging, his face was all discoloured," the neighbour said.
"I remember a straight line of vomit on the carpet and there was blood dripping down the side of his mouth."
On Thursday, Mr Szabo and a number of his family members choked back tears as the court was shown a police interview in which he claimed to have "no idea" how the baby could have come into contact with the tissues.
The chef said he was organising dinner for the children when he heard "a screech" and went to check on the infant.
"I could see that he was gagging, so there was obviously an issue," Mr Szabo told police.
Mr Szabo said he took the baby out of his cot and saw that the infant had "purply-blue" lips and blood around his nose.
He said he put his fingers down the 11-month's throat to try and dislodge what he later discovered were tissues, but initially had no success because the baby kept biting him.
He said he tried a number of other strategies, including putting the boy on his side and tapping him on the back with "good force", as well as pressing the infant's stomach.
"I just needed to get what was in there out of his mouth," Mr Szabo said. "I was panicking."
Mr Szabo told police that he eventually enlisted the help of the 10-year-old girl, whose fingers were smaller than his.
But the girl could not remove the tissues either, so he asked her to fetch some tweezers.
The tweezers also failed to do the job, he said, so the girl went next door to call an ambulance.
Mr Szabo said while the girl was gone, he tried again to fish the tissues out with his fingers and succeeded.
By then, he said, the baby had stopped breathing, so he performed CPR and managed to resuscitate the infant before paramedics arrived and took over.
"I felt really sick and I was shaking," Mr Szabo said.
The court also heard that Mr Szabo was "inconsolable" once paramedics had taken the baby to hospital for treatment, and "shocked" when he was later arrested.
The trial continues.
Cassandra Morgan
It has never been more important for Canberrans to be able to access reliable and accurate information about health. As The Canberra Times’ health reporter, I am committed to ensuring our readers have access to this. I, like many in the territory, have family members who work in the sector. Although providing comprehensive coverage on the coronavirus pandemic is obviously my number one priority, I aim to frequently shed light on the fantastic work our frontline professionals do, as well as the challenges they face. Email me tips and story ideas at: c.morgan@canberratimes.com.au.
It has never been more important for Canberrans to be able to access reliable and accurate information about health. As The Canberra Times’ health reporter, I am committed to ensuring our readers have access to this. I, like many in the territory, have family members who work in the sector. Although providing comprehensive coverage on the coronavirus pandemic is obviously my number one priority, I aim to frequently shed light on the fantastic work our frontline professionals do, as well as the challenges they face. Email me tips and story ideas at: c.morgan@canberratimes.com.au.
Blake Foden was a court reporter at The Canberra Times.
Blake Foden was a court reporter at The Canberra Times.
