A Wales, England, fitness instructor is facing murder charges for allegedly killing his 18-month-old daughter that he officially adopted with his husband two weeks earlier.
BBC reported that Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, is accused of “violently shaking” his 18-month-old daughter, Elsie Scully-Hicks, until she sustained serious head injuries. The baby is said to have suffered months of abuse.
Matthew told an emergency dispatcher on May 25 that Elsie was “floppy and limp.” Despite efforts to save her life, the toddler died on May 29, 2016, according to Wales Online.
“We allege that his attack on her on that day was not the first time that he had employed violence towards Elsie, nor was it the first time that he had caused her serious injury,” prosecutor Paul Lewis told a jury.
Matthew, along with his husband Craig, took in Elsie in September 2015, when she was 10-months-old. A court heard how the slain toddler was taken away from her mother, a drug user, mere days after her birth, according to the Times & Star.
Wales Online also reported that testing conducted at the hospital indicated that Elsie sustained recent and previous bleeding on both sides of her brain and hemorrhages in front of both her eyes.
Lewis said, “We allege that his actions on the late afternoon/evening of May 25 were the tragic culmination of a course of violence conduct on his part towards a defenseless child—an infant that he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused and ultimately murdered.”
Matthew gave up full-time work to care for his children. Prosecutors presented text messages that indicated that the stay-at-home father was “struggling to cope” with the arrangement. Matthew is accused of calling Elsie a “psycho” and “Satan dressed up in a baby grow” in messages to a friend.
Neighbors claimed they often heard Elsie crying while Matthew screamed profanities. They recalled one occasion where they could hear him yelling “shut up you little f***ing brat” and “shut up you silly little c**t” at the toddler, the Times & Star revealed.
The fitness instructor’s murder trial is expected to continue for five weeks.
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