A stepfather accused of murdering a five-year-old had threatened to kill the boy if the child’s mother broke up with him, a jury has been told.
John Cole, who is on trial for murdering Logan Mwangi, denied making the threat but admitted to striking the boy the day before he died and dumping his body on a riverbank.
Giving evidence at Cardiff crown court on Monday, Cole accused his co-defendant, Angharad Williamson – his partner and Logan’s mother – of shaking him.
He told the jury that after Logan’s death, he and Williamson put the boy, who was 1.04 metres (3ft 5in) tall, into a 67cm (2ft 2in) holdall and he took the bag out of the flat in the Welsh village of Sarn which the three shared.
Cole, 40; Williamson, 30; and a 14-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, deny murdering Logan, whose body was found on 31 July last year, with more than 50 injuries.
Under cross-examination from Williamson’s barrister Peter Rouch QC, Cole told how Logan had been confined to his room behind a stair gate because he had Covid, and was ordered to turn away from his mother and stepfather when they went in to give him meals. Cole said keeping Logan in isolation had caused tensions.
Rouch asked Cole about an alleged row at the home two days before Logan’s death. He suggested Cole told the boy: “You think it’s funny we’re arguing over you, you won’t be happy until you split us up.” Cole replied: “No.”
The barrister claimed that Cole, who is 1.93 metres (6ft 4in) tall and weighs between 14 and 15 stone, had “towered above” Logan and said “The only thing this boy understands is pain”, before hitting him twice in the stomach. Cole denied he had said those words and added: “I did not hit Logan in the stomach.”
Rouch alleged Williamson had told Cole: “I’m going to leave you” and he had replied that he would kill the boy if she did. Cole claimed that Williamson had shaken him.
Cole conceded that he had clipped Logan’s head the day before his body was found. “I am not proud of what I did but I have admitted what I have done,” he said.
The defendant has told the court that Logan was already dead when he woke in the early hours of 31 July to the sound of Williamson screaming.
Asked how Logan died, Cole said: “I don’t know what happened. I have heard a lot of stuff recently which is really disturbing and I don’t know how to make any sense of it.” He said he did not blame his co-defendants.
Cole said he and Williamson put Logan’s body into a small Nike holdall. Rouch asked him if they had “crammed” the body in, given the size of the bag. Cole said he could not remember. He repeatedly said he left the body on the riverbank rather than in the water, where it was found. He said he regretted dumping Logan’s body. “It was disgusting and I deserve all I get for that.”
The trial continues.
