A two-year-old girl was killed in a “frenzied and extremely violent attack” by her mother’s boyfriend, who blamed the family dog for her death, a jury has heard.
Lola James, described as a “happy, beautiful and busy little girl”, was found to have 101 external injuries, “catastrophic” head trauma and extensive damage to both her eyes, the court was told.
Kyle Bevan, 31, from Aberystwyth, denies murdering the toddler four months after moving into the family home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales. He is on trial at Swansea crown court along with Lola’s mother, Sinead James, 30, who denies causing or allowing her death.
Opening the prosecution case, Caroline Rees KC said Bevan, who was an amphetamine user and prone to violent outbursts, subjected the girl to a brutal assault while he was alone with her between the evening of 16 July and the morning of 17 July 2020.
Rees told the court that Bevan claimed Lola’s injuries were caused by her being pushed down the stairs by the family dog.
Jurors were shown photographs that Bevan took of Lola’s injuries and a video he shot of her unconscious and badly injured. They were told he made internet searches for information about head impact and loss of consciousness in babies.
Rees said phone records showed that at about 6.30am on 17 July, Bevan Googled “my 2 year old child has just taken a bang to the head and gone all limp and snoring. What’s wrong”. She said Bevan called for an ambulance about an hour later.
When paramedics arrived, Lola was lying unconscious with a swollen and bruised face and she appeared to be wet, Rees said. She said it was believed that Lola had been scrubbed clean, even of transfer tattoos that she appeared to have had on her arm the day before.
Investigators noted that the bath was spotlessly clean despite the rest of the house being dirty. A vomit- and blood-stained grey onesie was found in a corner of the living room, the court heard.
“We say that the injuries … were the result of a brutal and extremely violent physical assault upon her by Kyle Bevan whilst they were alone together,” Rees said. “Rather than face up to that which he did to the little girl, Kyle Bevan immediately tried to save himself. Rather than immediately call the emergency services, as surely would be natural had this been an accident as he now says, he took time to concoct excuses and lies.
“He tried to take a coward’s escape by trying to place false blame upon the family dog, suggesting that Lola must have fallen down the stairs. It is the prosecution case that the injuries sustained by Lola are wholly inconsistent with an accidental injury and show instead that she was the victim of what must have been a frenzied, brutal and violent attack at the hands of somebody she should have been able to trust.”
James says she was asleep when her daughter’s injuries were caused, which is accepted by the prosecution, Rees said. But the prosecution say James should have been aware of the threat Bevan posed to Lola owing to previous violent incidents against her.
Lola was two years and nine months old at the time of her death four days later at Noah’s Ark children’s hospital for Wales in Cardiff.
The trial continues.
