A TODDLER'S stomach may have been stamped on to cause the injury that killed him, a court heard.
Forensic pathologist Dr Julie MacAdam also said she could not rule out someone forcing their knee into tiny Brandon Muir.
Brandon's mother Heather Boyd, 23, is on trial accused of his culpable homicide, and her ex-partner Robert Cunningham, 23, is charged with murder. They deny the charges.
The pair also face a charge of repeatedly and wilfully ill-treating Brandon between October 2007 and March 2008.
Dr MacAdam told the High Court in Glasgow yesterday she helped carry out a post-mortem on 23-month-old Brandon, from Dundee, after his death last March.
The jury earlier heard how Brandon died from acute peritonitis caused by a ruptured intestine brought on by blunt force abdominal trauma.
Prosecutor James Wolffe QC asked the pathologist: "Are you able to give examples of blunt force abdominal trauma?"
She replied: "A heavy blow such as a punch or a kick, perhaps a stamp or a fall onto a blunt object."
Dr MacAdam, of Glasgow University, said it would not be "a gradual push" but something of "significant impact".
The trial continues.
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