Jake Rainton was “not aware” of anything after being punched, a doctor has said.
Jake died after being punched in an incident outside Truth bar in Cross Church Street, Huddersfield, in the early hours of July 15 last year. Ryan Patient, 25, of Midland Road in Rotherham, is charged with manslaughter and is currently standing trial at Leeds Crown Court.
On the fourth day of the trial on Friday, jurors heard evidence from two doctors who carried out examinations on Jake’s body.
Read more: Live updates from day 4 of Jake Rainton manslaughter trial as more witnesses give evidence
Dr Daniel Du Plessi, a neurologist, was asked to examine Jake’s brain and discovered a number of injuries to it, including a fracture, bleeds to the brain and swelling.
He told the court: “Unfortunately for Jake his main problem became brain swelling probably because of all of the bruising he sustained.
“In this case the major problem was his brain started swelling in an uncontrollable way. Eventually the pressure becomes too high and the brain shifts to alleviate the pressure and the only way to go is through a hole into the brain stem and that is a vital structure responsible for maintaining consciousness and it is also the computer bit of the brain controlling breathing and heart rate.
“If that gets damaged you can suffer cardiac arrest and in head injuries that is the main problem.”
He was reminded of evidence given yesterday by Jake’s friend Nathan Kelly who described him as limp and lifeless and said: “That is typical of someone being rendered concussed by a blow to the head or a punch. I’ve seen the CCTV and the manner in which he falls is not a stumble or a trip it is someone fully mobile and verbal in one moment and the next is someone consistent with someone being profoundly concussed.”
(Image: Reach PLC)
Dr Du Plessis was also asked about the impact a second blow, caused by Mr Kelly trying to pick him up and dropping him, could have had, and Jake hitting shutters on the way down to the floor after being hit.
He said they did not explain the diffuse traumatic axonal injury, with which a height of the fall and heavy weight would. He said: “It is a simple matter of physics that the lower the level, the less it is going to be. You can sustain potential serious injury if he was limp but you have to think why he was limp anyway.”
He said the diffuse traumatic axonal injury “must have been caused” when he fell from a greater height.
Dr Du Plessis said: “I can’t exclude some contribution [of the drop] but if it did have any contribution that would have been in a lesser capacity – in fact a much lesser capacity. So in other words, most of the damage and therefore the fatal outcome in this case, would have been due to the initial impact of the force from him falling from a standing point.”
The doctor gave his cause of death as traumatic blunt force head injury “from a heavy fall from a standing height” and said Jake was not aware of anything after the punch. He said: “The manner he fell would suggest deep concussion so I think he would have been unaware from the moment he began falling.”
(Image: Robert Sutcliffe/Reach)
Dr Christopher Johnson, a Home Office-registered forensic pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on Jake’s body also gave evidence to the court. He said he was assisted by a toxicology report that found Jake had 135mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system – one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit.
He said of the report findings: “We’re not talking extreme drunkenness it’s not that high. He was able to walk around and certainly a level of 135mg per 100ml I wouldn’t expect that to cause extreme drunkenness.”
Dr Johnson said Jake was “deeply unconscious” when he was admitted to hospital and features consistent with aspirational pneumonia were found during a chest X-Ray “because he’s been lying in an unconscious state” and that was “caused by injury”.
The doctor said that Jake had suffered injuries including an abrasion measuring 1.8cm by 1cm and another, which joined that, of 1.5cm by 1cm. Dr Johnson said: “They are typical of a strike of the back of the head against a hard surface. It would have been from him striking his head on the ground or could have been from two impacts.”
He added that bruising to a muscle in the face measuring 4cm by 3cm was also found.
Dr Johnson concluded in his report that Jake died as a result of a head injury.
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
The report said: “I gather once found collapsed Jake was limp and unconscious. Passers-by attempted to sit him up and I gather in this process he fell backwards from a sitting height and may have struck his head on the pavement.
“In my view, a skull fracture and resulting brain injuries are far more readily explained by a fall from standing height than a low level fall from a sitting height. Furthermore I would also say he needed to be lifted up which implies he had a reduced level of consciousness at that time suggesting he had already received significant damage to his brain.”
Dr Johnson concluded: “Jake Rainton was a 23-year-old man punched to the face, which resulted in a fall backwards resulting in the back of his head hitting the ground resulting a very serious head injury which has ultimately caused his death.”
When Dr Johnson was cross-examined by Gillian Batts from the defence he was asked about the punch causing the concussion and said: “It’s my opinion, with pathology you can’t always say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
“You have to remember the reason he hit the shutters is because he was hit in the head. It is my view he had concussion being punched. It may have been a possibility the impact with the shutter caused concussion but it was still a punch to the face that caused him to fall on the shutter.”
The trial continues.
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