An “abusive” man assaulted a 15-month-old baby boy, leaving him with angry red marks and bruises


An “abusive” man assaulted a 15-month-old baby boy, leaving him with angry red marks and bruises, while the infant’s mother was visiting a relative in hospital.
Alan Griffin – who previously bit a 13-month-old child – was trusted to look after the toddler while his then-partner and the child’s mother went to see her own mum in hospital following an operation.

Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court , Judge Neil Bidder QC said: “You are an abusive man. It is as simple as that.”

The court heard Griffin met the boy’s mother on dating site Plenty of Fish in January 2018 and they soon moved in together.

John Ryan, prosecuting, said: “The defendant appeared to get on well with [the boy]. He told [his partner] he had nieces and nephews.”

The court heard the woman did not know Griffin had a previous conviction for assaulting a child because he lied and said he had been to prison for fighting.

Prosecutors said Griffin’s partner went to visit her mother in hospital last June and trusted Griffin to look after her son.
She phoned him to check everything was all right and he said the baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had “slipped in the bath” and he had given him some Calpol.

The court heard she met him at Accident and Emergency at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend and saw her son had red marks on his face.
Mr Ryan said: “The defendant could not explain his injuries and hospital staff became suspicious.”

Medical evidence suggested injuries to the child’s buttocks were non-accidental and he was kept in hospital overnight.

The court heard the little boy had bruising to his face and buttocks. A doctor said the bruising to the head could have been caused by a fall in the bath.
Judge Bidder noted there were “extensive red marks”, which he described as “livid red welts”.

Griffin was arrested the next day and told officers the child had slipped in the bath. Mr Ryan said: “He persuaded his own mother to lie. She said it was all her fault.”

The court heard Griffin’s mother Christine Habberley made a false statement to the police saying she lost her grip as she was giving the child a bath and he fell.

She was interviewed by the police on June 28 and, when officers questioned her about photographs of the injuries, she admitted she had lied.
Ms Habberley said she did not want to lie to the police but her son kept asking her to do it.

The court heard Griffin later assaulted the boy’s mother and was given a community order after pleading guilty to common assault.

Mr Ryan said he had a previous conviction for assaulting a 13-month-old baby, who was left with bite marks on their arm and cheek.

The prosecutor said: “This is the second known occasion he has physically assaulted a child.”

For that offence he was jailed for 20 months.

Prosecutors said he had been before the courts for six previous offences, including causing criminal damage.

Griffin, 35, from Jersey Villas in Cwmavon, Port Talbot , admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.

Judge Bidder said: “This is a serious case of assault of a child by a man who had previously been convicted of assaulting a child.”

Griffin was jailed for two years and seven months.