A man who subjected a toddler to a ‘terrifying’ attack which left him covered in handprints and bruises has been jailed.
Winston Brammall, of Crosland Street in Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, was only left alone with the one-year-old boy for a short period of time when he physically abused him.
The incident happened in February this year and today the 44-year-old changed his plea to assault occasioning actual bodily harm to guilty on the first day of what was expected to be a three-day trial at Leeds Crown Court .
The court heard how the boy’s mother had ‘no concerns’ about leaving the boy in Brammall’s care, but when she returned he ran to her crying and she was ‘immediately suspicious’.
Philip Stanfast, prosecuting , said that Brammall claimed he had been ‘play fighting’ with the toddler and showed the woman a video he’d taken of what happened while she’d been gone.
But Mr Stanfast said: “All she could see was a terrified little boy.”
The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was covered in bruises, including on his face, back, legs and buttocks, and red marks, including on his right ear.
He also had a mark to the right side of his face in the shape of a hand, a hand print on his right thigh and fingerprints on his back.
Shockingly, his tongue’s frenulum was torn, which was ‘caused by a slap or a punch to the mouth or a bottle being rammed into the mouth’.
Brammall threatened the woman that if he went to prison she would be sorry, but she rang the police and took the boy to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary anyway.
When interviewed by police, Brammall said ‘it’s all bulls**t’ and that the toddler had been riding on his back ‘like a horse’, but if he had fallen off it would have only been onto cushions.
Experts concluded that the injuries were ‘non-accidental’ and likely as a result of hitting, punching, kicking or the toddler being hit with an object, thrown against an object or being dropped.
They also concluded that the fingerprints on his back were consistent with ‘excessive tight gripping caused by an adult hand’.
The boy’s mother, who was due to give evidence in the trial, said that her son’s behaviour changed ‘almost overnight’ after the incident.
Brammall has a previous conviction for battery in 2009.
Christopher Dunn, mitigating, described the incident as ‘isolated’ and said that Brammall may be expecting a child of his own.
Mr Dunn said: “These injuries are consistent with a flash loss of temper.
“This defendant does not have any previous convictions that indicate this was a proclivity.”
Recorder Tahir Khan QC sentenced Brammall to 21 months’ imprisonment, of which he will have to serve half before being eligible for release.
He also made Brammall the subject of a restraining order, banning him from contacting the child and several other people.
The judge said: “[The toddler] was as vulnerable as a victim can get.
“You abused that position of trust by inflicting violence upon him.”
