SNS GroupA toddler was found lying in a pool of blood and vomit after he fell from an open first floor window.
The two-year-old landed on concrete in the garden of Suzanne Dolan’s home in Glasgow’s Tollcross on September 28 2020.
Dolan – who was caring for the boy – had left him alone in her kitchen while she spoke to a delivery driver.
She initially claimed that the boy – who suffered a fractured skull and bleed to the brain – had fallen from a trampoline.
The child also suffered a fractured leg following a later incident after he fell down stairs when left alone again.
Dolan, 41, pled guilty on Wednesday at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of wilfully neglecting the boy.
The court heard that Dolan’s neighbour first spotted the boy lying on concrete, believing that he was sleeping.
The neighbour shouted on Dolan who was speaking to the delivery driver.
Dolan said to her neighbour: “He can’t be outside.”
Prosecutor Kyle Dalziel said: “Dolan ran down from the front door of the first floor flat to the outside.
“The boy was unresponsive, lying on concrete in the garden under the kitchen window which was open.
“The boy’s shoes were found scattered on the ground. He was lying in a pool of blood and sick. The blood was coming from an injury to his head.”
Dolan took the boy inside – he was conscious but walking with a limp.
A 999 call was made when Dolan claimed that the boy had fell from a trampoline when “he wasn’t looking.”
Dolan told the truth the next day and that the fall had occurred when she spoke to the delivery driver.
The boy was treated at hospital for a “significant head injury.”
He suffered a fractured skull, a blood clot as well as a swollen and bleeding brain.
As a result, the boy walks with a limp, drags his feet and has vision impairment in his right eye.
Dolan later installed baby gates at the top of her stairs and the third stair from the bottom.
On March 3 2021, Dolan did not lock one of the gates when she was getting washing.
Mr Dalziel said: “Dolan observed the boy bumping down four or five steps before the gate and he cried.”
Later that day, Dolan went to the toilet when she heard the boy cry again.
Mr Dalziel said: “She thought she heard a thud but not a loud thud and thought the boy had fallen from the third step before the gate.”
Dolan picked the boy up to dress him and noted that his leg was in pain as he screamed.
She took him to hospital where he was found to have suffered a fracture to his leg.
The boy was then put in a leg cast.
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month before Sheriff Owen Mullan who granted Dolan bail in the meantime.
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