Mummy! Boy’s cry as he was ‘crushed to death with car seat’
Mother’s boyfriend ‘moved front seat in anger’
‘She said to him, what have you done?
A BOY of three cried ‘Mummy’ as he was deliberately crushed with a car seat by his mother’s boyfriend, a court heard yesterday.
Stephen Waterson, 25, is accused of fatally injuring Alfie Lamb because he was making too much noise.
Alfie was in the rear footwell of the Audi A4 convertible when Waterson twice moved his electric front seat back in anger, jurors heard. The toddler was squashed ‘at the touch of a button’.
Alfie then suffered a heart attack at the home he shared with his mother, Adrian Hoare, 23, and Waterson in Croydon, south London.
He died in hospital three days later when his life support was switched off.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told the Old Bailey: ‘He was squashed by the car seat and suffocated.
‘This movement was a deliberate action by Waterson, who knew that Alfie was there and was angered by the noise and fuss that a three-and-a-half year old was making during the journey.’
Waterson and Hoare then lied repeatedly to try to cover up the crime, jurors were told. Waterson also assaulted the driver, Marcus Lamb, 22, while Hoare attacked the other passenger Emilie Williams, 19.
The court heard that last February the group were returning from a shopping trip to Sutton. Waterson was sitting in the front passenger seat and Hoare was in the back with Williams.
Mr Lamb, Williams’s then partner, was driving Waterson’s Audi at his request. Alfie had been put in the rear footwell between his mother’s legs.
Summarising Mr Lamb’s police statement, Mr Atkinson said: ‘During the journey he heard Alfie screaming and crying and both Hoare and Waterson telling him to shut up. He also heard Hoare slap Alfie.
‘He then heard the sound of the front passenger seat moving backwards, and Alfie shouting “Mummy”. A few minutes later, Williams told Waterson to move his seat forward, which he did.
‘Alfie continued to cry and both Waterson and Hoare told him to be quiet. He only became aware of a problem with Alfie after the car stopped. Waterson pulled Alfie out of the car and Hoare said to him, “What have you done?’’’
The court heard that Alfie, who was described as ‘a smiley boy’, was 3ft tall and weighed only 35lb. The seat applied 180lb of pressure.
Mr Atkinson said: ‘During that car journey something happened to Alfie to compress his chest and abdomen so that he went from an active toddler to a brain damaged one.’
Williams and Waterson also falsely told police they had been travelling in a taxi, the court heard. Eleven days after Alfie’s death Waterson sent text messages to Hoare saying he would take the blame for everything.
Hoare denies manslaughter, child cruelty and common assault on Williams. Waterson denies manslaughter and intimidation of Mr Lamb by assault.
The couple and Williams have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice.