Mother in murder trial ‘beat toddler because Bible said she should’

A MOTHER accused of murdering her three-year-old son has admitted she hit him with a bamboo cane but said she was allowed to because the Bible told her “she should chastise her child”, a court heard.

Christina Robinson, 30, denies murdering Dwelaniyah at the family home in Bracken Court, Durham, in November 2022. She also denies a child cruelty offence. Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court that the toddler died from a head injury after he was violently shaken while in the sole care of his mother.

Emergency services found the threeyear-old was heavily bandaged on his legs. A post-mortem examination showed he had tramline bruising on his body Mr Wright told jurors: “In this case the little boy had been repeatedly beaten with a bamboo cane by his mother. A cane stained with his blood and with his body tissue attached to it was recovered from the family home. The defendant admits that she hit him with a weapon but says that she was allowed to do so because the Bible tells her that she should chastise her child.”

Ms Robinson had contacted the emergency services by ringing 112 and told the call handler her son was not breathing and his eyes had gone “all weird”. When paramedics arrived at the home she claimed he had been eating a cheese bun when he suddenly went limp and collapsed. She explained that Dwelaniyah was bandaged because he had burned himself “while messing about in the shower” weeks earlier.

Ms Robinson said she had not taken him to hospital as the burns had caused him no problems and she was able to treat him at home, the court heard. A post-mortem examination revealed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained non-accidental injuries, the jury was told.

Mr Wright said: “In other words, somebody had been deliberately hurting this little boy and had been doing so over a period of time. That person was his mother, the defendant Christina Robinson.” Mr Wright said the burns on his legs, buttocks and genitals would have caused “excruciating pain” and that would have been obvious to his mother. He added: “This was a mother who could not possibly take her son to hospital because she knew that questions would immediately be raised.” The pattern of burns showed they were caused by Dwelaniyah being “deliberately and forcibly immersed in scalding water”. Mr Wright said: “Dwelaniyah died...because at the point of his terminal collapse, or very shortly before it occurred, he had sustained a major head injury.

The trial continues.