Arabic version: الأم مذنبة بإحداث حروق لرضيعتها بواسطة مجفف شعر

Courtney Gartshore has been found guilty of culpably and recklessly causing her three-month-old daughter, Dahlia-Rose, to be subjected to heat from a hairdryer, a jury at the High Court in Aberdeen concluded.

According to BBC News, the jury took just over an hour to return the guilty verdict on the seventh day of the trial. Gartshore, 28, sobbed as she was led from the dock; she was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.

The trial heard that Dahlia-Rose suffered burns to 18% of the surface area of her body and that the infant’s DNA was found on a hairdryer. The jury was played a recording of a 999 call in which Gartshore said the child had gone “purple” while she was asleep. Burns specialist Dr Timothy Burge told the court it was his view the heat injuries did not cause the baby’s death: “It could have been that she was already dead,” he said. The court was also told Gartshore had consumed alcohol beforehand and that other charges she had originally faced were dropped by the Crown during the trial.

Advocate depute Alan Cameron described the case as an “awful, heartbreaking event”, telling jurors there had been only two people in the property — Courtney Gartshore and Dahlia-Rose — and therefore only the accused could have turned the appliance on. He referred to evidence from witnesses who said they saw no injuries on Dahlia-Rose’s body in the hours before her death and pointed to alcohol consumption and intoxication as a possible explanation raised during the prosecution. In his closing speech, defence counsel Murray Macara KC argued the charge required the “necessary causal connection” between the hairdryer and the death, which he said had not been established.

Judge Simon Collins described the case as “disturbing”. He deferred sentence to the High Court in Edinburgh on 14 August and remanded Gartshore in custody. The judge thanked the jury and told them counselling services are available if needed. After the conviction, Detective Inspector James Callander said: “Children are defenceless and should be protected. The death of any child is particularly harrowing, but a child’s death at the hands of a parent is incredibly disturbing.” He added that everyone involved in the investigation was deeply affected but that their job was to uncover the truth and ensure the person responsible was brought to justice.

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