A mum who has been found guilty of allowing her boyfriend to murder her two-year-old daughter told 999 operators ‘I’m scared’.
Sinead James, 30, made a panicked phone call to the emergency services after waking up to find Lola James injured and unconscious on July 17, 2020.
During the two-minute clip, which was played to the jury during the course of the four-week trial, James said: ‘My partner, because I was in bed, was up with her.
‘She’s fallen down the stairs she has, from the top of the stairs to the bottom, and her head’s all swollen and she’s bitten the top of her tongue off or something.”
‘She moans when I try to wake her but her eyes are all swollen as well. I’m really scared,’ she sobbed.
Asked what caused the fall, James said: ‘The bloody dog I had barged her and she just fell.’
Swansea Crown Court found James guilty of causing or allowing her daughter Lola’s death on Tuesday.
The prosecution told the court Lola had been subjected to a ‘frenzied and brutal’ attack at the hands of her mum’s boyfriend, Kyle Bevan, just hours before the call and died four days later in hospital due to catastrophic brain damage.
Bevan, 31, was found guilty of murdering Lola, after claiming her injuries were caused by the family dog pushing her down the stairs.
It was accepted that James was asleep at the time the assault is suspected to have taken place at the family home on Princess Royal Way, in the town of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
She said she initially believed Bevan’s account when he woke her at about 7.20am to tell her Lola had fallen down the stairs.
The mum claims she began to doubt her boyfriend’s story during police interviews, when she was shown photos and videos Bevan had taken of Lola’s injuries on his mobile phone before he alerted her or the emergency services.
During the trial, the jury were also played the first 999 call made about Lola – from Bevan’s mother Alison, who rang the emergency services at 7.29am.
Bevan had been trying to contact his mum since about 6.40am but she was asleep and only responded to him at 6.55am when she saw clips of Lola’s injuries and told her son to call an ambulance.
However, Bevan said his phone was unable to and asked his mum, a healthcare worker, to make the call.
She can be heard telling the operator: ‘She’s a two-year-old that’s fallen down the stairs. She’s unconscious. They can’t wake her up.
‘She’s got ADHD, she’s fallen from top to bottom of the stairs. Then she’s bit the end of her tongue because they’re not sure if she’s fitted. But she’s floppy. They can’t wake her up.
‘They just rang me because I’ve got credit on my phone, ring an ambulance now they said.’
The operator informed Ms Bevan that no credit is needed to ring an ambulance.
She went on: ‘They panicked I think. I don’t know the exact time, it must’ve just happened.
‘The child woke up and she’s fallen down the stairs, apparently. There’s just a massive lump on her head.’
Bevan and James will be sentenced on April 25.
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