A Perth man has been accused of punching a baby outside a pub in Perth’s northern suburbs.
27-year-old Ian Douglas James Gordon has denied attacking 10-week-old Cruz, who was strapped to his father’s chest in baby sling at an Innaloo carpark on March 3.
The infant was not injured.
Gordon faced trial in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to assault and claimed he had not touched the baby before being punched in the face by the father Curtis MacLean.
The court was told MacLean was at the Saint Hotel in Innaloo with his son when a stranger approached him, asking, “Is that a real baby?”
MacLean told the court he replied “yes” and pulled back the blanket covering Cruz when the man punched the baby with a closed fist.
MacLean said he felt the contact of the blow through his son’s body.
“It was a gasp as if all of his air had gone, then one high-pitched scream,” MacLean said.
“Then he went quiet.
“His little eyes were staring at me and I thought there was something seriously wrong with him.”
MacLean said he threw a punch at the man before stepping away and passing Cruz to a female stranger standing nearby.
Gordon’s lawyer Marc Saupin said his client never touched the infant, claiming he was reaching for the blanket when MacLean punched him.
The trial continues.
