'The most bruises I've seen': 5-year-old was victim of violence, doctor says at grandfather's trial

A five-year-old Alberta boy who suffered "catastrophic" head injuries and head-to-toes bruising was the victim of violence, according to a doctor who specializes in child abuse injuries. 

Allan Perdomo Lopez is on trial in Calgary for manslaughter in the death of his grandson, Emilio Perdomo. The boy died in July 2015, eight days after he was brought to hospital unconscious and unresponsive. 

Just five months before he died, Emilio's mother sent her son from Mexico to live with her father, hoping he would have a better life in Canada.

Dr. Neil Cooper testified for the prosecution on Monday, Day 6 of Perdomo Lopez's trial, telling the judge that Emilio suffered "maybe the most bruises I've seen on a child."

Emilio also had a number of scars on his back that were in various stages of healing, some in crescent or U-shapes, Cooper told prosecutor Vicki Faulkner.

• Injured boy died with only hospital staff at bedside, grandfather's manslaughter trial hears

Perdomo Lopez and his wife told police and doctors that Emilio had fallen down a set of five stairs. 

"That would not have caused these injuries," said Cooper.

The doctor said a more plausible cause of the injuries would have been a fall from a two-story balcony.

Emilio was covered in large, dark bruises from the tops of his feet to his forehead. A bruise that resembled an adult's handprint wrapped around the boy's upper arm. 

The boy also had bruises on areas of his body the doctor said would be "very rare," like his groin area, abdomen, thighs and back. When he was admitted to hospital, the unconscious child's right elbow was so swollen and bruised, doctors believed it was broken.

Medical staff at the children's hospital were so concerned with the number of bruises covering Emilio's body that they did tests, which ruled out a blood-clotting disorder.

'Child abuse injury'

All of the bruising and head trauma suffered by Emilio plus the lack of a story from his grandparents that could account for those injuries "fits very well with an inflicted injury or a child abuse injury," said Cooper.

Under cross-examination, Cooper agreed with defence lawyer Darren Mahoney that his opinion was based on the lack of a plausible explanation and that it was possible Emilio could have suffered his injuries when nobody was watching him. 

Last week, Pablo Palomera testified that he sometimes saw Emilio and his grandparents at a local flea market where he had a booth. 

Palomera said the boy seemed quiet and afraid. He testified that he called child protective services when he saw that Emilio was barely able to walk and had a bandage on his head. 

Perdomo Lopez's wife, Carolina Perdomo, was to go on trial alongside her husband but earlier this year her charge was stayed by prosecutor Shane Parker.

The trial is set for three more weeks before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Richard Neufeld.