Mum guilty of murdering son, three, who she scalded and caned in ‘sadistic cruelty’
A mum who was accused of the murder of her three-year-old son has been convicted.
Christina Robinson, 30, was accused of causing a fatal injury to her son Dwelaniyah, three, by violently shaking him at her house in Bracken Court, Ushaw Moor, Durham, in November 2022.
Robinson has now been convicted of murder and four child cruelty charges.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how she scalded and caned him in ‘sadistic cruelty’.
She immersed him in scalding water which caused severe burns that would have caused excruciating pain in the weeks before his death.
Robinson admitted hitting her son with a bamboo cane but claimed she was following a Bible scripture which advised the use of the rod for the ‘correction’ of children.
She is a member of the Black Hebrew Israelite religion and said she used the cane because her son was messing around with his food.
The jury found she caused a fatal brain injury to her son while she was the only adult in the house.
She waited 20 minutes before she dialed 999 and before this googled how to resuscitate a child and also phoned her husband who was 240 miles away working for the RAF.
Robinson appeared calm when paramedics arrived at her home but they could not save the young boy.
His post-mortem examination showed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained a number of non-accidental injuries.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, 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.
‘He was subjected to a campaign of violence and cruelty by his mother for petty wrongs.’
Mr Justice Garnham told the jury: ‘I know from looking at you, this has been a stressful process, you need to get away and do something else, and think about something more cheerful.
‘I am extremely grateful for all you have done.’
He will pass sentence on May 24.
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