Monday, September 9, 2013

Colin Matchim: Newfoundland; Momentous decision; ("Shaken-baby syndrome" case) . The judge has set aside his guilty verdict (aggravated assault) after hearing new medical evidence which could raise a doubt that Colin Matchim's infant daughter had been shaken and severely injured. Mistrial declared. The new evidence suggests there may have been an underlying medical condition that caused the baby's bleeding on the brain. CBC News. (The story contains a link to Justice Wayne Dymond's decision.) HL.


STORY: "Guilty verdict set aside in alleged shaken-baby case: Crown to determine whether Colin Matchim will be tried again," published by CBC News on September 9, 2013.

PHOTO-CAPTION: "Colin Matchim, seen during a court appearance earlier this year, is no longer considered guilty of aggravated assault."

GIST: "A St. John's judge set aside a guilty verdict on Monday involving Colin Matchim, a man who was accused of shaking and severely injuring his infant daughter. Matchim was convicted of aggravated assault in May 2011, more than two years after his daughter was brought to hospital. In a decision handed down Monday at Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Justice Wayne Dymond ruled that new medical evidence presented after the guilty verdict would be permissible at a new trial. The defence's evidence could raise reasonable doubt about whether the girl, who was four months old at the time, had been injured through shaking. Expert medical wtinesses said there could have been an underlying medical condition that caused the baby's bleeding on the brain. During a court hearing this June, the Crown also called expert witnesses who said the trauma of being shaken likely caused the injuries."

The entire decision can be found at:

 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#all/14103f42938744af

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