A WOMAN was told "it's child abuse" when she brought a one-month-old baby to hospital with serious injuries, a court heard today.

Katherine Howell rushed the 31-day-old infant to Darent Valley Hospital on the morning of December 1, 2011 after what the prosecution called a "frenzied and brutal attack", a jury at Maidstone Crown Court was previously told.

Gravesend man Nathan Rawling, 36, is accused of fracturing the child's ribs 26 times, breaking its right arm and both collar bones and puncturing both the baby's lungs before the 7am dash to A&E.

In the witness box Miss Howell, 34, said she became "hysterical" when hospital staff had to fight 10 minutes to resuscitate the child after it went into cardiac and pulmonary arrest.

Struggling to control her sobbing, she said: "They kept saying 'It's child abuse. It's child abuse'.

"They kept saying they didn't know if the baby was going to survive or not.

"They kept saying it over and over again."

The Marks and Spencer employee added: "They knew the child had been viciously attacked and they made it quite obvious.

"I was in so much shock because of what was going on."

Rawling, of St Gregory's Crescent at the time of the alleged attack, denies causing GBH with intent.

The trial continues.