Man accused of putting baby in tumble dryer

A man has appeared in court accused of shutting a 13-month-old baby in a tumble dryer and spinning her inside.

Thomas Dunn, 25, from Hamilton, was charged with four counts of child abuse at a pre-trial hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court, including two assaults on the baby girl “to her severe injury and to the danger of her life twice in the space of three weeks last winter”, The Scotsman reports.

Prosecutors claim that on an occasion between 27 December 2017 and 8 January this year, the accused placed the child inside a tumble dryer at a home in Arbroath.

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He then closed the door, “causing the machine to activate and the inner drum to rotate to the girl’s severe injury and the danger of her life”, the Dundee Evening Telegraph reports.

In a separate assault on 8 January this year, he is alleged “to have repeatedly struck her on the head and body, repeatedly struck her against an unknown object or objects and bit her on the arm”.

Dunn also faces an abuse charge relating to an older male child. He is accused of holding the boy’s nose to restrict his breathing on multiple occasions from birth up until the age of 33 months.

Dunn has yet to enter a plea and a trial date has not yet been set. The hearing will continue until later this week.