Being accused of physically harming your child must be a parent’s worst nightmare but who should you turn to for help in a case involving Non-Accidental Injury (NAI)?

In two of her most recent cases, the work of Maria Hancock – instructed by Mike Gratton of Funnell and Perring and Sammy Sansone of WMC Legal LLP respectively – has led to the children involved being reunited with her clients.

Maria was able to successfully argue that either her client was not the perpetrator of injuries suffered or that no findings of NAI could or should be made at all.

What is a Non-Accidental Injury?

Non-Accidental Injury is a term that is used to describe the many different physical injuries or abuse a child can suffer.

The term covers any injury that it is felt has been deliberately inflicted upon them but cannot be used for any injury that has occurred unintentionally or unexpectedly.

The most common types of non-accidental injuries include head injuries (or as they are sometimes referred, shaken baby syndrome), injuries to the skin like bruising, blistering and burns, bone fractures, skull fractures and depressed skulls, brain injuries, fabricated injuries and poisonings.

Whilst sometimes these injuries have obviously been deliberately inflicted, there are sometimes natural explanations such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or Vitamin D deficiency, where there are causal links between Vitamin D deficiencies and fractures in young babies.

Given the task of discerning whether an injury has been deliberately inflicted or is a result of natural causes requires very specialist experience and knowledge.

This is why it is absolutely vital you choose your legal counsel very carefully if you or a client becomes involved in a case  involving Non-Accidental Injury (NAI).

If you would like to discuss a case involving alleged NAI with Maria in a matter, please contact her clerks today.