Crowborough baby murder trial: 999 call played to jury

A Crowborough dad accused of killing his eight-week-old baby daughter wept in the dock as a harrowing 999 call was played to the court.
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Michael Roe, 32, is accused of murdering his baby daughter Holly who was born two months premature on July 14, 2018. Holly’s mum Tiffany Tate, 21, has also been charged with her murder.

A 999 recording was played to Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday (March 4) of Roe, who was the last person to see Holly alive, frantically call for an ambulance after the baby stopped breathing at the couple’s home in Alderbrook Road, Crowborough, in the early hours of Monday, September 10, 2018.

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He tells the 999 operator: “She is not breathing. I am doing chest compressions.”

Michael Roe and Tiffany Tate are on trial at Lewes Crown CourtMichael Roe and Tiffany Tate are on trial at Lewes Crown Court
Michael Roe and Tiffany Tate are on trial at Lewes Crown Court

In the recording, Roe is told how to carry out CPR until an ambulance arrives. He is heard frantically crying as he fights to save her.

Paramedics battled to save baby Holly before she was taken to Pembury Hospital in Tunbridge Wells where she was tragically pronounced dead. An inquest later found she died from a traumatic head injury.

Sally Howes QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Holly’s death was a ‘tragedy’ that ‘happened behind closed doors’.

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She said no one else could have caused her injuries other than one of the two defendants.

She told the jury: “Both Tiffany Tate and Michael Roe are charged with the murder of Holly and it will be for you to decide whether either of them or neither of them is guilty.”

She said evidence suggested that Roe was responsible for her death using the mechanism of shaking, however she said there was also evidence that pointed towards Tate being responsible.

The court heard that baby Holly sustained 12 rib fractures on at least one, or probably more than one occasion, Ms Howes told the court.

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Port-mortem examinations showed numerous signs of injury to her eyes, brain, spinal cord and ribs, Ms Howes said.

Roe, who Ms Howes said had no patience with his baby daughter, was caught trying to feed her through her nose with a syringe causing the baby obvious distress, the court was told.

He would also pinch her toe to cause her to cry with pain in order to open her mouth in order to feed her, Ms Howes told the court.

Tate would get frustrated feeding Holly and felt like throwing her against the wall, Ms Howes told the court. She even had to be persuaded to visit Holly, in a special care unit, when she was born two months early, she said.

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The court heard that Tate thought her partner Roe was having an affair with a neighbour, which she was finding hard to deal with, Ms Howes said.

Ms Howes, prosecuting, told the court: “Holly died of a head injury that was deliberate.

“At that time, there was a significant risk of serious physical harm being caused to Holly.

“Clearly both defendants were aware of the risk of serious harm to Holly.”

Both Roe and Tate deny murder.

The trial continues.