Mobile-phone video footage taken by a man slapping and kicking a crying 15-month-old boy whom he allegedly murdered was shown to a court today.
Jurors placed their hands over their mouths as they watched the clips as the screams and cries of baby Charlie Hunt could be heard in the courtroom at Manchester crown court. The clips were the culmination of six months of abuse.
Darren Newton, 32, from Earby, Lancashire,
shot the videos for his "pleasure and satisfaction" as he repeatedly injured his girlfriend Laura Chapman's son while she was out at work, the jury were told. He denies murder.
The clips were entitled: "Crying, no toys in pen, ahh", "Squeezing toe in cot", "Two minutes of pain" and "Shivering no water", taken when the baby was naked in an empty bath.
In one graphic clip, entitled "Happy Slap", taken a fortnight before Charlie died, and a precursor, the prosecution alleges, to the fatal attack, Newton is seen to
slap him 12 times on the head as he screams in pain and cries.
Newton is also seen
forcing his finger into his ear then roughly twisting it as tears roll down Charlie's face and he tries to raise his hand in defence. It ends with
the crying baby being kicked on the floor.
A fortnight later, in November last year, an ambulance was called and Charlie was taken to hospital after he became ill when Newton was babysitting while his girlfriend was at work. Charlie died from head injuries an hour later, despite the intervention of medical staff.
Doctors found suspicious bruising and discovered that he had
swelling and bleeding to his brain and his eyes were damaged and bleeding.
Newton has
admitted 12 charges of child cruelty but denies two other child-cruelty charges and the murder charge.
Dennis Watson QC told the jury that Newton "took pleasure from the fact that Charlie was suffering from cruel and wicked behaviour".
[...]
The court was told that Chapman met Newton in early 2009, after moving in next door to the house he shared with his parents.
Chapman thought her life had "taken a turn for the better" as Newton had a job and she considered him to be a "quiet man, a caring man and a loving man". She had no knowledge of the attacks on her son.
"The sad truth was whatever the outward appearances, they hid a dark, and we submit wicked, side to the defendant, which only surfaced when he was alone with Charlie," the prosecutor said.
In the months before his death Charlie had been taken to hospital suffering from vomiting and "fits", but was discharged when he appeared "clingy" but soon back to his old self.
[...]
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