A baby girl who was allegedly killed with a hairdryer in Peterhead “may have been dead before she sustained the burns”, a trial has been told. Dahlia-Rose Gartshore, who was three-months-old, died at her home in Aberdeenshire in September 2023.
The baby’s mother, Courtney Gartshore, 28, denies culpable homicide. A trial at the High Court in Aberdeen today heard from consultant plastic surgeon and burns expert Dr Timothy Burge, whose view was the heat injuries did not cause the infant’s death.
According to the BBC, he said the tot’s injuries indicated her head had been in one position, and he found it hard to think how a child in a lot of pain would not have moved. Burge told Murray Macara, KC, defending, he was on the National Crime Agency list of expert witnesses and had dozens of published works about burns.
View 3 ImagesCourtney Gartshore(Image: Facebook)
The court heard Dahlia-Rose had suffered burns to 18% of the surface area of her body. Burge, giving evidence remotely after examining material related to the case, said if the baby had been alive at the time, she could have survived the burns.
As reported by the BBC, he said: “It could have been she was already dead. I take the view the heat injury did not cause the death.”
He told jurors he did not know what the cause of death was. Under cross-examination by advocate depute Alan Cameron KC, prosecuting, he was asked if the heat injury was possibly the cause of death.
“I think it is not likely,” Burge said. “But it’s possible?” Cameron replied. “Yes,” the defence witness said.
View 3 ImagesLittle Dahlia-Rose(Image: Facebook)
The trial previously heard how Dahlia-Rose’s DNA was found on the appliance. Prosecutors allege Gartshore “culpably and recklessly” caused her baby to be exposed to heat from a hairdryer while the infant was in her care.
The charge states Dahlia-Rose’s injuries were so severe she died as a result. The Crown also alleges Gartshore consumed alcohol and had taken the Class B drug mephedrone while she was the baby’s sole carer.
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Other charges she had originally faced have now been dropped by the Crown. The trial, before Judge Simon Collins, continues.
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