Christopher Kirk: Kirkcaldy man who attacked two babies 'had anger issues'

Christopher Kirk (31) formerly of St Clair Street, Kirkcaldy, assaulted both the children when they were aged under one at houses in Fife.

During the attacks Kirk got a hold of a baby boy and shook him violently and also left a baby girl with a fractured skull.

The former night porter was due to stand trial at the High Court in Edinburgh this week accused of attempting to murder the girl between March 2018 and January 2019.

But the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of assaulting her to her severe injury and the danger of her life after squeezing her body, shaking her violently, striking her head with an unknown object or causing her head to strike against the same.

The first offender also admitted assaulting the boy between August 2014 and August the following year during which he violently shook the child.

Advocate depute Derick Nelson told the court that one witness had described Kirk as having "ongoing anger management issues".

The court heard that Kirk had contacted the mother of the girl who he had been left looking after to tell her her daughter had an injury that looked like "a sore one".

She decided to contact NHS24 and was advised to take the child to the Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy. A paediatric consultant was brought in and police and social services contacted. The baby was found to have sustained a fractured skull and other injuries.

The court was told that the force involved in the head injury sustained by the little girl could have potentially produced a fatal outcome for the child.

Sentence was deferred on Kirk until next month for the preparation of a background on him. The judge, Lord Richardson, remanded him in custody.