By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 29-year-old Bessemer woman who is facing allegations she caused brain damage to her infant son will stand trial on the child abuse charge in April, according to scheduling documents recently filed in Shelby County Circuit Court.

Caitlin Gregory Lunceford, who lists an address on Harpers Dairy Loop in Bessemer and previously listed an address on Windsor Court in Alabaster, will stand trial beginning on Monday, April 16. She will appear in court for a plea date on April 3.

A Shelby County grand jury returned a one-count indictment of aggravated child abuse against Lunceford during its October 2014 term. She entered a plea of not guilty to one count of aggravated child abuse on Dec. 1, 2014, according to court records.

According to Lunceford’s indictment, she allegedly abused her infant son, who was about 2 months old and in Lunceford’s care at the time of the incident, by “striking and/or hitting and punching and/or shaking the victim.” Lunceford’s arrest warrant claimed she caused “brain damage” to the infant during the Jan. 11, 2014, incident.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Lunceford on Jan. 23, 2014, and charged her with aggravated child abuse, a Class B felony. The suspect was released from the Shelby County Jail on a $30,000 bond the day after her arrest.

In February 2014, Lunceford requested a previous court order denying her contact with her child be lifted, and requested she be allowed supervised visitation for one hour three nights per week. No ruling has been entered on the matter.

In a motion filed in September 2014, Lunceford’s attorneys again requested Lunceford be granted supervised visitation with the child, claiming “The failure of the child to spend time with its mother can create significant long-term adverse consequences with the child.”