Man jailed for attempted murder of child

25 April 2019, 16:21 | Updated: 25 April 2019, 16:24

A man who tried to murder a two-year-old boy while looking after him has been jailed for eight years and seven months.

David McMullen, 35, assaulted the toddler by inflicting "blunt force trauma" to his abdomen by unknown means at a property in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, on December 21 2016.

He was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Sentencing McMcullen at the court on Thursday, Lord Armstrong said the trial had heard the force necessary to cause that type of injury was equivalent to a road traffic accident.

He said the boy would "undoubtedly have died" if not for the expert care he received at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where he was treated.

Lord Armstrong said: "You have been found guilty after trial of the attempted murder of a two-year-old toddler - who could not yet speak - by the infliction of blunt force trauma to his abdomen.

"The little boy was vulnerable simple by nature of his age. He had been left in your sole care."

He added: "You continue to deny any responsibility for the attack and display no remorse or regret."

Gordon Jackson QC, representing McMullen, said the child had suffered no lasting damage and had made a "complete and total recovery".

He said the child's mother is extremely supportive of the 35-year-old.

Mr Jackson said: "In any view this was a single blow that was struck, it was not a sustained violence over a period, it was very much a single blow.

"Mr McMullen was keen to get medical help and was clearly distressed at the hospital."

He added: "All in all this is a very tragic business only lightened by the fact that the child has not suffered any lasting damage and he has the support of the child's mother."