Baby left needing stitches after South Shields man threw coin at her

The blameless tot sustained a ‘significant injury’ in the incident in February which will leave a scar, a court heard.

Hauled before a judge, Richard Snaith claimed the tragic incident was a ‘total accident’.

Snaith, 27, of Dunstanbrugh Court in Jarrow, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

District Judge Sarah Griffiths told the court: “It was an extremely vulnerable victim.

“A coin has been thrown as a weapon.”

She cited the ‘vulnerability of the person that was injured’ and ‘the level of injury and the level of harm that would have been caused to that person’.

Snaith told the court that the injury to the baby girl was a ‘total accident’ as he admitted a single charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge Griffiths told him that the case was so serious that it must go to a Crown Court for sentencing where punishments can be higher.

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison when tried at a Crown Court, though Snaith will get credit for his guilty plea and any additional mitigating factors so the sentence is likely to be significantly lower.

Snaith will appear at Newcastle Crown Court at a later date.

A court order was made to protect the identity of the child involved in the case.