Neighbour of man accused of killing toddler son tells court ‘he was a good dad’

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. At the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Ms Gorrie, who lived in the same block of flats as Czapla at the time, described the accused before a 15-strong jury as “a good dad”. The court heard after an eight-year-long relationship, Czapla and Ms Szczesniak split up in what the accused described as a “brutal” experience to consultant psychologist, Dr Deborah Mountain. She told the jury: “He told me that he couldn’t remember anything, so my next question was when was the next memory he remembers having and he said it was when he was in his car and he saw police around him.” The court heard the accused told Dr Mountain that he had intended to take his own life hours before Julius was killed, and had taken an overdose of medication. Alan Cameron, prosecuting, said to Dr Mountain: “You considered he was fit to appear in court and able to understand the nature of the charges against him?” She replied: “That’s correct.” Cameron, reading out a statement from the witness, added: “You have noted that there was no evidence of mental illness?” to which she replied: “No, there was not.” Dr Mountain told the court Czapla did not appear psychotic and engaged with her, making eye contact.