An 18-month-old boy was shot in the head after a woman told her partner to fire his air rifle at the child to frighten him, a jury has been told.

Emma Horseman, 24, is alleged to have told her partner, Jordan Walters: “Shoot Harry, just to frighten him, to shut him up, shoot it at Harry.”

Walters pointed the weapon at Harry Studley and pulled the trigger, leaving the child needing emergency surgery.

Bristol crown court heard that Walters admitted unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. Horseman is accused of the same charge on the basis that she aided or abetted the offence. She has pleaded not guilty.

Andrew Macfarlane, prosecuting, told the court: “The circumstances of this case are both simple and horrifying. Parents in a block of flats in Bristol meet up on a Friday afternoon with their children and within the hour a baby is fighting for its life and is airlifted to hospital.

“The crown say very simply that Miss Horseman’s participation was to tell her partner to shoot Harry. It may well be … that the intention was that Harry should be so frightened by the sound of the gun so that he would stop crying. Both defendants were reckless to the point of extreme in causing the gun to be pointed at Harry and the trigger pulled.”

The court heard that Horseman, Walters and their two children and Harry’s family lived in the same block of flats in Hartcliffe, Bristol. The families were friends and spent a lot of time with each other.

In July last year when Harry, his brother and his mother, Amy Allen, were visiting Walters and Horseman’s flat, Walters took the air rifle from a kitchen cupboard and began cleaning it. Both of Allen’s children were crying.

Macfarlane told the court: “Amy heard Emma say: ‘Oh Amy, how do you cope with them, crying all the time?’ Amy replied ‘It’s easy, you just give them attention, sort of thing, I got to do it.’”

He continued: “Seconds later while Harry was still crying, Amy heard Emma say: ‘Shoot Harry, just to frighten him, to shut him up, shoot it at Harry.’ Amy heard the sound of the gun firing.

“It appeared to Amy that Jordan had aimed the gun at Harry and fired it right into Harry’s head. Amy immediately picked Harry up in her arms. There was blood on the sofa. Blood was gushing out of Harry’s head and down Amy’s arms. Harry kept losing consciousness.”

The court heard that Walters phoned for an ambulance and Allen heard both Walters and Horseman say they had thought the gun was not loaded.

Harry was taken to Bristol children’s hospital where he underwent surgery. “The bullet penetrated Harry’s skull. He was operated on as a matter of extreme urgency and fortunately his life was saved,” Macfarlane said.

The court was told that Harry now had several post-traumatic seizures a day and was being treated with anti-convulsant drugs.

Allen told the court: “I was sat on the sofa dealing with both of the children because they were crying. I heard Emma speak to Jordan. She said: ‘Jordan, shoot it and scare him.’ After Emma said what she said, he aimed the gun at Harry.

“I looked round and said ‘No’ and I heard the gun. It sounded like a pop, the sound of a bus hydraulics when it stops and opens its doors. I heard the noise and Harry screaming in pain. She looked around and said: ‘Jordan, he’s bleeding.’ I looked around and found him in tears.”

The trial continues.