Mother, 24, weeps in court docket after boyfriend ‘shook her child to loss of life in match of rage’ after arguing with ex-girlfriend
A mother wept in court as she blamed her boyfriend for the death of her five-month-old baby, who he allegedly shook to death after rowing with an ex-girlfriend.
Jordan Dougal, 24, said she left her ‘smiling’ baby with partner Thomas Morgan, 29, at the family home in Swansea – but returned to find him with fatal injuries and not breathing.
Morgan, of Gorseinon, Swansea, denies murdering Jensen-Lee Dougal in a ‘fit of rage’ and claims the baby instead fell ill when he left the room.
Jensen-Lee suffered catastrophic brain damage, numerous fractures and extensive retinal bleeding to both of his eyes, a jury was told on Tuesday.
Ms Dougal told Swansea Crown Court today: ‘I gave Jensen a kiss, it was the last time. I said bye to them both and then I went to work.’
The mother said she had no concerns about leaving the baby with father-of-two Morgan at the house in Clydach, Swansea, on March 30, 2024.
But she later spoke to Morgan on the phone, who said he was ‘freaking out’ because Jensen-Lee had stopped breathing, Ms Dougal said.
She told the court she repeatedly instructed Morgan to call an ambulance – but he instead took the youngster to a neighbour’s house for help.
Jensen-Lee Dougal died at five months old after suffering catastrophic injuries, a court heard
Thomas Morgan, 29, is accused of inflicting fatal injuries on the baby by shaking him violently
Morgan was at the time in a relationship with Jensen-Lee’s mother, Jordan Dougal (pictured)
She said: ‘He told me Jensen wasn’t breathing and that he was freaking out, obviously I started freaking out.
‘I told him to ring an ambulance […] I hung up, I rung an ambulance like five times.
‘I heard off Tom again, I told him to ring an ambulance again. I obviously know now that did not happen.’
Ms Dougal wept as she told the court she was forced to make the decision to turn off Jensen-Lee’s life support machine the following day.
She said: ‘They told me he wouldn’t survive without life support.
‘They just said he would never breathe again on his own. He would have no quality of life and he would be stuck to a machine for the rest of his life.
‘I didn’t want to remember him like that when he was such a happy baby.’
She said she hugged Jensen-Lee after the machine was unplugged and that he died in her arms on March 31.
Jensen-Lee had been ‘smiling’ when his mother left for work at a village pub, the court heard
Swansea Crown Court (pictured) heard that Jensen-Lee sustained the injuries while his mother was at work
Ms Dougal told the jury that she and Morgan split up around two months after Jensen-Lee’s death.
Morgan is accused of shaking Jensen-Lee ‘whilst angry and in temper’ after rowing with the mother of his two children, Georgia Griffiths.
In a series of ‘angry and abusive’ text messages on the day, Morgan called Ms Griffiths names such as a ‘stinking little rat’ and a ‘stinking little dog’, the court heard.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees said the argument ‘flipped some kind of switch’ in Morgan leaving him ‘angry and aggressive’, and in no state to look after a child.
She said: ‘With his temper raised and his fuse short, his temper must have snapped and he shook Jensen-Lee with such violence that he caused the devastating injuries that led to Jensen-Lee dying in his mother’s arms.’
Morgan told police he went to get Jensen-Lee a change of clothes and returned to find him ‘limp’.
He then fled the house with the baby in his arms to get help from a neighbour, who performed CPR on the ‘very floppy’ Jensen-Lee while another called an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived to find found Jensen-Lee ‘purple in colour, lifeless and limp’ and rushed him to hospital, and he was later found to have a ‘devastating’ brain injury in hospital, the court heard.
Morgan denies murder and three charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The trial continues.
