Mother guilty over baby’s hairdryer burns death in Peterhead

Advocate depute Alan Cameron, prosecuting, described the case as an “awful, heartbreaking event”.

In his closing speech, he said that there were only two people in the property, Courtney Gartshore and Dahlia-Rose, and therefore only the accused could have turned it on.

He referred to evidence from witnesses who saw no injuries on Dahlia-Rose’s body in the hours before her death.

The advocate depute told the jury that they did not need to answer the question of why the hairdryer was turned on, but pointed to alcohol consumption and intoxication as a possible explanation.

He told the jury that they couldn’t be moved by “sympathy or prejudice” and invited them to find Courtney Gartshore guilty of culpable homicide.

Murray Macara, KC, defending, said in his closing speech that the charge stated the injuries were what killed the baby – and suggested the “necessary causal connection” between the hairdryer and the death had not been made.