By Ryan Pilon

Pathologist testifies boy had contusions on his head

Dec 3, 2010 | 4:18 PM

Three-year-old Dilyn Donald had nine contusions on his head when he died, and would’ve been comatose within about 15 minutes after receiving the injuries.

This information was provided at Court of Queen’s Bench in Prince Albert by Dr. Shaun Ladham, Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko’s final witness.

Ladham is the pathologist who conducted Donald’s autopsy.

Donald died on Dec. 23, 2007, from what Ladham determined was blunt force trauma. His stepfather, Jordan Crowe, is charged with second-degree murder.

Ladham ruled the type of bruises the boy suffered were most likely caused by being hit with or against a large, flat object, such as a 2×4, a wall, or a floor.

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He said the injuries couldn’t have been self-inflicted, as a three-year-old can’t generate enough force to cause such deep bruising. Ladham also noted the injuries couldn’t come from simply bumping his head against an object, as there were too many individual bruises on different locations of the boy’s head.

Ladham determined the boy would have become comatose within 10 to 15 minutes from a combination of how much Donald’s brain swelled, as well as how fresh the bleeding of the brain was.

Ladham said, the swelling of the brain would’ve sent Donald into either cardio or respiratory arrest, which accounts for the boy’s foaming at the mouth and gasping noises he made.

Upon cross examination, defence lawyer, Greg Chovin asked Ladham a question he asked neuropathologist Dr. Chris Robinson yesterday – if a former injury to Donald’s brain could’ve caused the bleeding and swelling. Robinson had noted that a part of Donald’s brain had evidence of previous bleeding, and said that a slight bump to the head could reopen these wounds.

Ladham agreed these wounds could reopen, but the part of the brain which had been previously injured doesn’t irritate the brain, so it couldn’t have caused the brain to swell.

Ladham also noticed a couple of contusions on the boy’s chest, but said this may have been caused by CPR.

Chovin calls his first witness on Monday.

rpilon@panow.com