Taking Ethan Ives-Griffiths to Tesco instead of the doctor was 'incomprehensible'

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It was "incomprehensible" that the grandparents of a toddler who "collapsed" failed to seek medical help and took him to Tesco instead, a murder trial jury heard today.
Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician, said that failure was "motivated in part by a desire to avoid professionals making a diagnosis of child abuse".
Dr Dixon was giving evidence on day eight of the trial of Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, who are accused the of murdering their grandson Ethan Ives-Griffiths.
The couple, of Kingsley Road, Garden City, Deeside, deny murdering Ethan at their home in August 2021. They and their daughter Shannon Ives, 28, of Nant Garmon, Mold, all deny other charges of causing or inciting the death of a child, and cruelty to a child under 16. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
Mold Crown Court has heard Ethan sustained 40 external injuries akin to those in the victim of a high speed traffic collision. The prosecution say Ethan suffered what would prove to be a fatal head injury was on August 14, before his death at Alder Hey children's hospital on August 16. You can follow all the latest updates from the trial on our liveblog here.
Dr Dixon told prosecutor Caroline Rees KC the "very high number of injuries was an outlier from what would be expected during day to day life". She said Ethan had an "extremely high number of bruises".
She said: "The high number of the bruises co-existing with the head injuries and abdominal injuries lead me to the conclusion that they were inflicted, non-accidental injuries due to blunt force impacts."
(Image: North Wales Police handout)
She also said Ethan was "very underweight" and he had a "perilously low" body mass index (BMI). She said 99.6 per cent of boys of that age would be heavier. He had a body mass index of 11.8.
Dr Dixon said Ethan's weight would put in jeopardy the chemical balance for his heart function. Others with a similar BMI would have been "critically ill" and at a "risk of death".
Dr Dixon said Ethan's carers should have sought medical help from a GP at a much earlier stage. She told the court that Ethan's grandparents and mother had been "grossly neglectful" in their care of the two-year-old.
'Extraordinary'
Dr Dixon said it was likely Ethan had bleeding and a brain injury in CCTV footage of him trampolining from August 4, 2021. "The footage supports that Ethan had suffered an inflicted traumatic head injury on or prior to 4 August in addition to the fatal inflicted traumatic head injury inflicted on 14 August," she told the court.
Taking him to Tesco later was "extraordinary", she said. Ethan was also "manhandled" by being carried into a car by Michael Ives which was "humiliating" and put his arm at risk of being dislocated, Dr Dixon said.
She said it was "incomprehensible" that capable adults sought to "self-manage" a collapse by Ethan on August 13. But Dr Dixon added: "The failure to seek health care is likely to have been motivated in part by a desire to avoid professionals making a diagnosis of child abuse."
David Elias KC, representing Michael Ives, put it to Dr Dixon that studies show "52 to 87 per cent" of children of walking age have bruises with a range of one to 27 bruises. Dr Dixon agreed.
He also suggested that Ethan's chipped tooth, torn frenulum (skin under the lip attached to gum) and lip injuries could have been sustained accidentally.
Dr Dixon said Ethan was independently mobile so could have been injured himself that way although Ethan may not have had the reflexes, because of an earlier injury, to save himself after a fall.
Dr Dixon also agreed Ethan bit his lip at times.
The trial continues.
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