Two medical experts testified yesterday that a baby at the centre of a murder trial died from shaken baby syndrome.

And one said Cassidy Ann Salahuddin could have been thrown against a hard object.

She was taken to hospital on May 5 last year and pronounced dead early the next day.

Her father, Karim Shaheed Salahuddin, 25, of Serpentine Road, Pembroke, is charged with her murder.

Yesterday forensic pathologist Valerie Rao described the external injuries Cassidy had suffered which included a bruise eight centimetres by eight centimetres on the right of her forehead, bruises to her lip, chest and shoulder and scalp injuries. Internal injuries included multiple rib fractures, extensive bleeding into the scalp, fractures to the right and left of the skull, torn bridging veins in the brain and “tremendous bleeding in the retina”.

Dr. Rao said the rib fractures were typical of a baby being held tightly as she demonstrated using a doll provided for the Supreme Court.

She said the bleeding around the brain and eye were consistent with trauma being caused by being shaken with extreme force.

And that the scalp had bleeding consistent with the child being thrown against a hard object.

She said haemorrhaging at the front of the head was from a different impact.

“It wasn't one injury. There was one impact to the back and one impact to the front.”

A curved abrasion below one of her eyes had been caused by a curved rough object striking her with sufficient force to break the skin said Dr. Rao.

She said the folds of Cassidy's brain had been flattened out during the attack and that the brain had been forced down the spinal column cutting off the flow of air and blood.

The child had multiple reasons to die said Dr. Rao but other reasons had been ruled out such as strangulation.

Asked for her conclusions in this case she said the evidence supported shaken baby syndrome.

She cited the injuries to the arms, the rib fractures, bleeding around and into the eyes and tremendous bruising in the front of the head and back of the head.

On a scale of one to ten she said the shaking was at the very top end judging from the bleeding in the eye.

Salahuddin lawyer Queen's Counsel John Perry asked if the discoloration seen in photos seen by the jury could have been typical those seen in corpses.

Dr. Rao said they were certainly injuries not mere discoloration. Mr Perry then went on to assert that Dr. Rao, who now works in Missouri, had left the state of Florida because of criticism of her work. Dr. Rao said there had been criticism of her administrative skills.

Mr. Perry asked if some babies died without any cause of death and Dr. Rao replied that Cassidy had not died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome where no symptoms are seen but had suffered substantial trauma.

She ruled out Mr. Perry's suggestions that such injuries being caused in a fall. She said: “I have never seen these type of rib fractures as a result from falling and I have been in this for 25 years.”

Shaken Baby Syndrome expert Randell Alexander who is professor of Paediatrics at the University of Florida said he had studied the medical records and concluded Cassidy had died of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

He said the key factors in diagnosing this was brain injury, bleeding in the skull and retinal haemorrhaging.

When looking at Cassidy he said: “I found evidence of all three types of injuries.”

He refuted Mr. Perry's suggestion that the similar injuries could be caused by rolling down a hill. He defended Shaken Baby Syndrome against Mr. Perry's suggestions that the concept had come under attack from professionals in the field.

He said The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of Medical Examiners, who represent thousands of people, had put out position papers backing the theory while only a few hundred professionals had questioned it.

The trial before Chief Justice Richard Ground continues today.