Mum’s lover ‘said “We’re going down for murder” after they stomped her 16-month-old daughter to death’
A STEPMUM said “we’re going down for murder” after she and her lover stomped her baby girl to death, a court heard today.
Savannah Brockhill, 28, and Frankie Smith, 20, are accused of causing “catastrophic” injuries to 16-month-old Star Hobson then pinning her death on a toddler.
Brockhill was in a relationship with Star’s mum Smith at the time of the alleged murder on September 22 last year.
Bradford Crown Court heard today how she called Smith’s mum Yvonne Spendley the next day and told her “we’re going down for murder”.
Smith’s aunt Melissa Dalby told jurors today she heard the conversation between Ms Spendley and Brockhill, who also also said Star would be buried next to her mum.
When prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC asked if Brockhill said who would be going to the funeral, Ms Dalby replied: “No one was allowed to go to the funeral”.
When asked who Brockhill meant, she added: “Any of Star’s family.”
The court was told how “very immature” Smith was helped by her family when Star was born as she often “struggled” and was “lazy and neglectful”.
She then began a relationship with Brockhill in Christmas 2019 before they moved into a new flat in Keighley together in June last year.
Jurors heard how Smith “called Star names that shouldn’t be said to a child” before her death including “little c***”.
She was also made to face the wall if she misbehaved and was put in a “choke slam” by the couple.
Jurors have previously been shown harrowing footage recorded by the couple leading up to Star’s death.
This includes footage of Star looking badly bruised with a swollen cheek and marks to her forehead.
The crying toddler can also be seen painfully climbing up a flight of stairs while suffering from a broken shin as both women force her to walk, jurors were told.
The couple also made a number of Google searches in the days before Star’s death, asking: “How long can your body last without sleep?”
GOOGLE SEARCHES
They also searched “how long can you sit in the cold?” and “what takes bruising and swelling down?”
Jurors were told the couple tore the main vein carrying blood back to the heart from the legs and other organs had been torn.
Star, who suffered major blood loss, also had a split to the liver, a tear to the bowel and bruising on her lungs and pancreas, it is said.
The court heard how the injuries were caused by a severe and forceful blow or blows, “either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen”.
After allegedly stamping on baby Star, Smith and Brockhill then waited 15 minutes before calling for help.
The couple also searched online for “shock in babies” and “how to bring a baby out of shock”, jurors heard.
Paramedics arrived at the home in Keighley, West Yorks, on September 22 last year to find Star lifeless, pale and wearing only a disposable nappy.
The court was told she was in cardiac arrest and as they attempted CPR, Star vomited “large amounts” of brown material.
She was airlifted to hospital but sadly couldn’t be saved and was declared dead shortly after.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC said: “The reality is that the injuries suffered by Star were so catastrophic that there never was any real chance of saving her life.”
When quizzed by police, they suggested the injuries were caused by a two-year-old child, which the prosecution branded “absurd”.
Medics instead said the “degree of force” inflicted on Star was “so great” it was “quite impossible for the doctors to envisage it could have been inflicted by a child”.
Mr MacDonald said: “The effect of such injuries was immediate and heavy bleeding into the abdominal cavity, which caused a catastrophic drop in blood pressure and unconsciousness and death within seconds to minutes.
“The assault or assaults that killed Star clearly involved the use of severe force and were obviously intentional. This little girl suffered no accidental death.
“It is the prosecution case that she was killed by the intentional infliction of injury and that the person or persons who inflicted these injuries intended, at the very least, to cause really serious harm to a helpless young child and that, in those circumstances, they are guilty of murder.”
BABY ‘MURDER’
Doctors also discovered a number of “significant injuries” the baby had suffered “at different times during her short life”, it was said.
This included two fractures to the right shin bone “caused by forceful twisting”, a fractured skull and an old brain injury.
Star had lived with Smith’s grandmother and her partner from February 2020 until late April and was said to be a happy baby.
But the prosecutor said that changed when she returned to live with her mum.
Mr MacDonald added: “Throughout the period when these injuries were caused, Star was supposedly in the care of these two defendants who were partners.
“Despite the catalogue of injuries of which we have spoken, at no time was Star taken for medical help other, of course, than that 999 call made in the last hour and 15 minutes of Star’s life.
“It is also the case that Social Services, who were aware of Star’s case, were kept away from Star.”
Smith and Brockhill deny charges of murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.