Mother accused of deliberately slashing the feet of her baby son with a razor blade 'told nursing staff he slipped in the bath'

A 40-year-old mother deliberately cut the feet of her baby son with a razor, a court heard today. Rachael Thompson allegedly drew the blade across both heels of the four-month-old boy - but claimed he had accidentally cut his feet on the razor after it had fallen into a bath.
On trial: Rachael Thompson, of Plymouth, allegedly drew the blade across both heels of the boy. However, medical experts said the injuries must have been caused deliberately, Plymouth Crown Court in Devon was told. One nurse at Derriford Hospital in the city said the injuries were 'horrific'.
An expert who tried to reconstruct an accident using a wooden model of a baby's leg covered in pig skin could not replicate the wounds.
Thompson denies a charge of child cruelty which is alleged to have happened in September 2011. Jo Martin, prosecuting, said Thompson took her son to her local A&E department on the evening of September 17. She said the child was found to have two identical wounds on each heel.
Thompson, of Plymouth, told staff that she had been bathing the baby in the family bath two days earlier when she turned her back for a few seconds after her partner called to her.
Miss Martin said the mother then said she heard a cry from her son and saw blood in the water.
She told the jury: 'She discovered a razor and its stand had been in the bath. She picked her son up and saw both his heels were bleeding. She assumed he had somehow cut them on the razor.'
A&E nurse Emma Congdon said she was suspicious because of the two-day delay in bringing in the baby. She said the mother told her the baby had 'kicked' the razor into the bath. She said the wounds were 'horrific', adding: 'You would not leave a four month old baby on its own in the bath.' The trial continues.

Source: Dailymail