A baby allegedly looked 'as if he had gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson’ after being battered by his father, a jury has been told.

The 11-month-old child had bruising to one side of the face which included visible finger marks, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The baby’s mother told a jury she did not report the incident to the police because she felt guilty about leaving her child in the care of her husband while she went out to work.

The 34-year-old father, from the Newton Abbot area, denies child cruelty.

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting, said the baby was injured in the spring of 2013 but the mother did not report it to the police until October, by which time she had split up with the father.

He said she was at work and had phoned to check on the baby at around 8pm and been told the child was crying all the time and he was unable to settle him.

She did not notice the injury when she came back from work because the baby was asleep face down but saw the bruising on the cheek the next morning.

Mr Fitzherbert said: ’She saw a black bruise in the shape of a hand print on the cheek. Her husband told her he had given the boy a tap on the cheek. When she questioned this, he said he must have connected really well.

’They were planning to go away for the weekend to Cornwall and leave the child with his parents. He called them to explain what had happened and his wife was there when he tearfully told them what he had done.’

The father told police he had grabbed the baby by the face to stop him banging his face against the bars of his cot and the injury was accidental.

The mother told the court she was alarmed when she saw the mark on the baby’s cheek.

She said: ’I asked my husband what had happened. The baby looked as if he had gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. He said the child must have hit his head on the cot.

’When I said I could see it was not a cot bump he said the baby had been crying most of the evening and he tapped him on the cheek to break the cycle of crying. I queried this and he said he must have hit him really well.’

She said she lied to a friend who saw the bruise the next week and said the baby had bumped his face on a garden parasol.

She said: ’I felt I should have been there but I was out at work. I felt I had put my child in danger and it was partly my fault.’

The trial continues.