A mother accused of murdering her three-year-old son argued with her husband asking him, ‘Are you saying this is my fault?’ while medics tried to save the toddler, a court has heard.

Christina Robinson, 30, is on trial accused of murdering Dwelaniyah at their family home in on Bracken Court in Ushaw Moor, County Durham on November 5, 2022, and a charge of child neglect.

She denies the charges against her.

It's alleged she inflicted a fatal head injury on the day of his death and had previously beat him and caused him serious burns by immersing him in scalding water and. Robinson says Dwelaniyah choked on a cheese bap he had been eating.

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The mother admits beating him with a bamboo cane recovered from their address, the court heard yesterday.

A jury heard on Wednesday (February 28) Robinson had an “argument” over the phone with her husband, who was away on RAF training, while medics tried to save their son’s life.

PC Emma Watson who attended the scene told jurors: “There was some discussion around him travelling back to the home.

“An argument then began where Christina Robinson said something along the lines of, 'Are you saying this is my fault?

“’I'm not accusing you of anything. This isn't tit for tat. Don't bring this kind of attitude, I'm not in the mood for it.’”

She claimed the house had a “strong smell” of faeces and told the jury: “I could smell faeces and when I looked to my left in the bathroom there were nappies there that were clearly soiled and I believe that's what I could smell.”

The officer stayed with Robinson and suggested she had “no sense of urgency” when getting ready to leave the home to follow Dwelaniyah to hospital, the court heard.

She said Robinson had told her she was pregnant but hadn’t told her husband. The court heard on Tuesday that Robinson had been in touch with a sperm donor and was seeing another man behind her husband’s back.

Jurors were told by PC Watson that Christina “silently cried” when her son passed away, saying she was “just wiping tears from her eyes” and was “very still”.

The court was also told by PCSO Paul Gilroy, who was at the scene before PC Watson arrived, that Robinson appeared "quiet, calm and unpanicked” by the situation.

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But Jamie Hill KC, defending, suggested to the officer he would “see many different reactions from different people” in such a situation, to which Gilroy replied, “yes, that's true”.

PCSO Gilroy added that Dwelaniyah was “wearing only a nappy and some sort of white bandages”, saying the bandages “appeared to be blood stained”.

The court was previously told the three-year-old had 15 to 20% burns to his body including his legs, buttocks and genitals that appeared to have been caused by him being deliberately immersed in scalding water. In footage from PC Watson’s body worn camera shown to the jury Robinson explained she had been treating him for “water burns” she said he sustained in the shower.