The mother of Child D has given live evidence at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday morning as part of the Lucy Letby trial.
The former nurse has been charged with the murder of seven babies, and the attempted murder of a further 10 babies whilst she was working on the Neonatal Unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Ms Letby denies all the charges against her.
This is the first time the court has heard live evidence from a parent of one of the children involved in this case.
Lucy Letby
Chester Standard / SWNS.com
Manchester Crown Court
Dave Thompson
She told the jury about the events leading up to the birth, including feeling “very worried and scared” 46 hours after her waters had broken. She said she felt “forgotten by the staff” at the hospital.
On the 20th of June in 2015, Child D was born via C-section. Child D’s mother told the court that, upon her daughter’s birth, she was very concerned as she did not “scream” and seemed lifeless. She told the court that “the room was quiet.”
Two days later, Child D died. The prosecution alleges she was murdered by Lucy Letby, via an injection of air into her bloodstream.
Child D’s mother recalled the moments leading up to her daughter’s death. She said one of the doctors was trying to resuscitate her baby, and that she and her husband had to stand there and watch their daughter die.
She also told the court that, during the resuscitation attempt, a nurse was holding a phone up to the doctor’s ear. When prompted, she said she believed this nurse to be Lucy Letby.
The prosecution then asked her if she could remember seeing Ms Letby previously. She said that she could – on one of her visits to see her daughter, she recalled Lucy Letby “hovering” around when all she wanted was privacy.
She told the court: “As we got in the room she was sort of hovering around (child D) but not doing much.
“She had a clipboard or something to take notes on and she sort of was looking at the machine but I didn’t really clearly understand what she was doing.
“I asked if everything was OK and she said ‘yes, she’s fine’.
“That was the first time in 24 hours I could see (child D).
“She could have just left us to it and she just stuck around.
“She was just watching, looking over us. I asked (my husband) ‘can you tell her to go away and just give us some privacy?'”
The court has also heard a written statement from Child D’s father. He recalled being given a Father’s Day card by the hospital – the occasion had fallen the day after his daughter had been born.
He also recalled being given a further “Welcome” card by the hospital, which had a picture of Child D on it. He said that, in the picture, his baby looked “a lot healthier.”
Describing the moments leading to the death of his daughter, Child D’s father said he hadn’t noted that the nurse holding the phone was Lucy Letby – he said he had not looked that way.
He told the court that he just remembered there being “a real sense of urgency” and that he knew it was “a very serious situation.”
It’s expected that the focus of the trial will remain on Child D now until sometime next week.
