A caregiver has gone on trial accused of breaking the leg of a five-month-old baby.

Betty Jean Steede, 50, denies causing grievous bodily harm to La'Naiye Simmons at her home in Swan's Bay Hill, Pembroke.

The first witness for the prosecution at Supreme Court yesterday was La'Naiye's mother, Laneh Simmons.

She told how she dropped her "normal, laughing and kicking" baby off at Steede's house on the morning of October 30 2006, leaving him on the floor in his baby seat.

However, Steede called her at work later that morning to say La'Naiye would not stop crying. Ms Simmons said she could hear her child in the background during the conversation.

"He sounded as if he was very much in pain," she told the jury. She said the babysitter asked what happened to La'Naiye over the weekend, asking whether he had fallen.

Ms Simmons said she told Steede nothing happened and the baby was fine.

When she arrived at Steede's home, said Ms Simmons, her son was in his baby seat, crying and appearing exhausted. Steede and her mother suggested La'Naiye might be suffering from teething pain or colic.

However, a tearful Ms Simmons told the jury: "When I picked him up to speak to him I held him in front of me under his arms and said 'what is wrong? I noticed that his right leg appeared to be wrong. It was like a dog's (injured) paw would be. It was limp.

"That's when I put all thoughts aside of colic and teething and I knew something was wrong with my son's leg."

According to her, when she pointed this out to Steede: "She didn't show any pity. It was just 'it does look a little swollen, yeah'."

Ms Simmons said she called her mother, and they took La'Naiye to the hospital where he spent three days, and had to be put in a plaster cast.

According to Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney, doctors found the baby had a fresh break to his right thigh bone. The Crown's case, he told the jury, is that Steede was reckless at the very least in causing this injury.

Defence lawyer Victoria Pearman cross-examined Ms Simmons, of Mount Hill Road, Pembroke, about events at her home prior to dropping La'Naiye at Steede's house. The witness said her sister entertained him in his pumpkin seat while she got her things ready and kept an eye on them.

The panel of five male and seven female jurors also heard from the baby's father, Kenwandee Robinson. He said he looked after his son at his family home in St. Monica's Road, Pembroke, overnight from October 27 to October 28. He saw him again the day before the incident, reporting that the baby was fine on both occasions.

Wendy Simmons-Baker ¿ Ms Simmons' mother and La'Naiye's grandmother ¿ told the jury the baby was "his normal self, laughing and playing" the day before. When she saw him after her daughter picked him up from Steede's "his leg was dangling and he was crying".

The case continues.