A social worker who examined the home of a childminder accused of breaking a baby's leg discovered another baby face down and unattended during her visit.

Betty Jean Steede was also caring for twice the number of children permitted by her licence, according to Family Services employee Samantha Branch in evidence at Supreme Court.

Steede, 50, denies causing grievous bodily harm to five-month-old L'Naiye Simmons after his mother left him at her home on the morning of October 30, 2006.

She called the mother, Laneh Simmons, later that morning to say the child would not stop crying. On arrival at the premises in Swan's Bay Hill, Pembroke, Ms Simmons discovered her baby's injury. She and members of her family said in evidence that L'Naiye was in good health prior to being left with Steede.

Earlier this week, the jury hearing the case heard a taped interview in which Steede told detectives she acccidentally hurt the baby when she was pulling off his all-in-one outfit and was too scared to tell his mother.

Ms Branch visited Steede's home with a Police officer later on October 30 ¿ telling the court Steede told her she put L'Naiye up on the back of the couch to change him, but then changed her mind.

Ms Branch demonstrated to the jury that the top of this couch was around three feet high, with a curved top. The social worker listed other concerns as including the discovery that Steede had two toddlers and four babies on the premises when she was only licensed to care for three. Additionally, she found a baby in a room by himself, behind a closed door, "lying face down in a cot".

Quizzed by defence lawyer Victoria Pearman about how long the baby had been face down for, Ms Branch said: "I don't know how long, but I know it takes eight minutes to stop breathing. I thought he could have been sleeping, but he wasn't moving."

Asked for more details by Crown counsel Takiyah Burgess, she told the court: "I think the first thing that came to my mind was SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and the fact that the child could have suffocated. It's something that has happened to infants."

Of Steede's remark that she contemplated changing L'Naiye on top of the couch ¿ something she later denied ¿ the social worker said: "The height was a concern and the fact that the floor underneath was tiled and the back was narrow for changing a baby."

The jury also heard from emergency physician Mustansir Malik who said L'Naiye was brought into the hospital screaming on the morning in question. X-rays showed he had a spiral fracture of the right femur ¿ the bone that stretches down the thigh from the hip joint to the knee joint.

"A spiral fracture usually indicates a high degree of force," said Dr. Malik.

Asked by Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney what could have caused L'Naiye's injury, he replied: "It can be any number of things. Commonly, it would be a fall from a height or a fall from a height where you reflexively grab the child by the leg and try and stop him."

Mr. Mahoney asked the doctor whether ¿ as Steede told Police ¿ the injury could have been caused by an attempt to take his baby suit off. Holding the outfit in question in front of him, Dr. Malik replied: "No, not at all. Just to remove this? No. Children are not so fragile that you are going to break a bone by removing one of these, even if they're being difficult."

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Panagal Chelvam told the court that in his opinion, the fracture "was definitely fresh ¿ within an hour or so."

Quizzed by Mr. Mahoney about how serious an injury this was, he said such an injury can lead to shock, and theoretically death, if left untreated.

However, he said, L'Naiye received immediate treatment.

Earlier in yesterday's proceedings, prosecution witness Det. Insp. Steven Lightbourne was cross-examined by defence lawyer Victoria Pearman about events prior to Steede's tape-recorded interview at Hamilton Police Station on November 28, 2006.

He denied Ms Pearman's suggestions that he "talked hard to her" and "used choice language," asserting that he treated Steede with the utmost respect.

The case continues.