The baby who suffered multiple fractures to her skull when she was allegedly hurled into a cot by her mother’s partner is likely to be greatly impaired in her mental and physical development, a court heard yesterday.

The court was also told that the police had previously received a report that her mother was mistreating the baby but had not yet started investigating it.

Doctors believe the injured baby will possibly suffer “a 90 per cent physical and mental development retardation”, Police Inspector Sylvana Briffa told Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

She said this was the result of the multiple fractures the 11-month-old girl suffered to her skull. She also had an accumulation of blood around her brain.

The baby has been released from hospital since the September 12 incident and doctors are assessing her condition regularly.

Inspector Briffa was testifying in the compilation of evidence against a 27-year-old man from Żabbar, who cannot be named by court order. He stands charged with the attempted murder of his partner’s child when he allegedly threw her into a cot at their Ħamrun home early on September 12.

The critically injured girl was operated upon. It was also found that she had a fractured femur.

Inspector Briffa testified that the defendant first told the magisterial inquiry his girlfriend was to blame but then retracted this and admitted he had thrown the baby into the cot. He admitted he had lied under oath.

He told the police that he, his girlfriend and the three children, aged 11 months, four and seven years, had spent the entire day at the Żabbar feast where he drank and took cocaine and cannabis.

They returned home at about 5am and after some time he got hungry and asked his partner to prepare something to eat.

While she was downstairs, the baby started crying, nagging and making noises, and he found it “unbearable”, so he picked her up, shook her and threw her violently into the cot.

Consultant paediatrician Cecil Vella, who examined the baby soon after she arrived in hospital by ambulance, told the court that she had “a serious head injury” as well as a fractured femur and heavy bruising.

He said the injury to her skull was “substantial” and she was, for a while, in danger of loss of life as a result of this “non-accidental” injury.

The 24-year-old Romanian-born mother, who lives Malta, is charged with neglect of her children from three different fathers. She also cannot be named by court order.

She had told the police that the child refused her dummy and was making strange noises. She claimed to have panicked upon lifting the child, as she was limp and felt heavier than usual. She could not explain the injuries to the police.

Inspector Briffa also said Appoġġ had previously reported to her that the mother was mistreating the children and was likely negligent, but “nothing had been done at the time”.

The case continues in December. Lawyer Joseph Mizzi appeared for the man.