A club doorman seriously injured his eight-week-old son when he lost his temper and threw him or shook him severely, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The 23-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, denies causing him grievous bodily harm with intent on June 28, 2011.

Prosecutor Nick Askins said the infant suffered serious head injuries the first time he was left alone with his father, while his mother, in her late teens, and his grandma went shopping.

Paramedics called to the couple’s flat in Bradford at about 9.30pm found the baby suffering seizures.

Mr Askins said the child was treated at Bradford Royal Infirmary and transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

He had suffered a subdural haemorrhage and bleeding to the back of his eyes.

Mr Askins said the baby had petechiae on his chin and neck, small red spots that can be caused by gripping.

He told the jury that the child had no illness that could have been responsible for his medical condition.

“The only possible cause was that the boy was the subject of trauma, in other words force of some kind,” Mr Askins said.

He told the jury the Crown’s case was that the man lost his temper with his crying son and assaulted him by throwing him on to a soft surface and, or shaking him severely.

The infant stopped suffering fits when he was treated in hospital and he was discharged after about three weeks.

The defendant, who was arrested the day after the baby became ill, told the police he called an ambulance immediately he realised something was wrong.

He told the emergency operator the baby went white and was making a panting noise. His eyes were closed and one arm had gone tense.

The court heard he was going to bath his son and had the baby on his knee when the mother left.

She told the jury it was the first time the man had been left alone with his son.

He rang her to say the baby was unwell and she rushed home.

She told how she cried when she saw him being tended by paramedics on the living room floor.

“He was shaking and his eyes were rolling,” she said.

The trial continues.