A mother alleged to have “murdered” her young son hit with a bamboo cane because “the Bible told her to chastise him” before his death, a court heard.
Newcastle Crown Court was told little Dwelaniyah Robinson, three, died after the emergency services were called to his home on November 5, 2022, by his mother Christina Robinson. She claimed the toddler had stopped breathing while eating a cheese bap but while attempting to save him paramedics noticed the boy's legs were heavily bandaged, which they were told were a result of minor burns caused by him playing in the shower.
Jurors were told burns to his legs, buttocks and genitals covered up to 20 percent of his body and should have had immediate surgical intervention and would have caused "excruciating" pain. The court heard Dwelaniyah’s death was caused by an impact to his head which caused devastating injuries to his eyes and brain. Robinson, 28, denies murder and cruelty to a person under 16.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court: “Dwelaniyah was wearing only a nappy and those attending could see his legs were heavily bandaged. He had food around his mouth and about his head and he wasn't breathing."
"His body revealed over a period of time before his death he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained a number of non accidental injuries. In other words, somebody had been deliberately hurting this little boy and had been doing so over a period of time. That person, says the prosecution, was his mother, the defendant Christina Robinson.
"There is clear evidence Dwelaniyah had been beating with a weapon in multiple areas of his body, causing line bruising, a distinctive type of bruise seen when someone has been struck with a cylindrical weapon. In this case, the little boy had been repeatedly beaten with a bamboo cane by his mother."
The court heard Robinson made admissions about hitting Dwelaniyah with a weapon but said she was "allowed to do so because the bible told her to chastise her child." Mr Wright added: “The burns were severe and covered between 15 and 20 per cent of the total surface of his body. They would have caused excruciating pain both when inflicted and afterwards when not treated or cared for.”
A bamboo cane containing his blood and body tissue was found at their home. The court heard he had suffered similar injuries two days earlier, which had started to heal and the pattern of the burns indicated Dwelaniyah had been "deliberately and forcibly immersed into scalding water.”
Mr Wright said Dwelaniyah had nothing obstructing his airways, such as the cheese bap as his mum suggested to "cover up" what she had done and his cause of death had been a deliberately and forcefully inflicted, significant, head injury that caused damage to his brain and eyes. The court heard the head injuries may have been caused by shaking and or impact with a surface.
He added: "There is evidence of an older and healing injury to his brain which preceded the fatal head injury by about two days. She beat him, she used a weapon on him. She deliberately immersed him in scalding water. She sought no treatment for his injuries. She allowed him to suffer in pain for several weeks and not once but twice she inflicted head injuries upon him by forcibly shaking him so hard that on the second occasion she damaged his brain and that in turn caused his heart to stop.
"The prosecution says the death of Dwelaniyah was not an accident but the end point in a series of violent and cruel acts perpetrated against him by his mother Christina Robinson. She injured him, she neglected to treat the injuries she inflicted upon him and then she murdered him."
The trial continues.