Teen mum killed newborn son at family home after 'suddenly' giving birth, trial told
Paris Mayo, who was 15 when she gave birth to Stanley, is accused of killing him at the family home in Ross-on-Wye.
A teenage mother murdered her newborn baby son by assaulting him and stuffing his throat with cotton wool, a jury has heard.
Paris Mayo, who is now 19 but was 15 at the time of the alleged murder, has gone on trial accused of killing Stanley Mayo at her parents' home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on March 23rd 2019.
She was charged last year with murder after an inquiry by West Mercia Police.
Prosecuting barrister Jonas Hankin KC, opening the case at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, told the jury that the baby is thought to have been born between 9.30pm and 10.30pm.
He was full or near full term and born alive, he said, but was then assaulted at the home in Springfield Road, with a head injury caused.
He said: "Approximately two hours later, realising the baby was still alive, the defendant stuffed pieces of cotton wool into his mouth, throat and neck.
"The first piece to go in was forced down so deeply into the oesophagus - the tube through which we carry food to our stomachs - it was only discovered on dissection of the neck at autopsy.
"This blocked his airway and he suffocated.
Mr Hankin said she then put the baby's body in a bin bag and deposited the bin bag on the front doorstep outside the house, before going upstairs to bed.
She then text her brother the next morning asking him to put the bag in the bin.
Jurors were told the baby's death came to light when Mayo's mother asked her son what was in the bag, which was described in court as "unusually heavy" and had left "streaks" of blood on the doorstep.
When Mayo's mother opened the bag, the Crown's KC said: "She suddenly went hysterical and was heard to say, 'There's a baby in the bag' and... 'Paris has given birth'."
Mayo's mother rang 999, telling the call operator her daughter had given birth, and "could be heard addressing her daughter saying, 'You could have told me, darling, you could have told me - poor baby', and repeating, 'Why didn't you tell me?'"
Paramedics arrived and found Mayo in the house sitting with her mother, holding the baby who was "wrapped in a sheet... and no sign of life".
Mr Hankin said: "She (Mayo) said it (the baby) had stuff coming out of its mouth and she used cotton wool to try to clean it up.
"She said she had put some cotton wool inside the baby's mouth, to stop any more coming out, and later, in the ambulance, described this stuff as 'fluid'.
"She said she had put the baby in the bag because she didn't know what to do."
Mayo told another paramedic she "didn't know she was pregnant".
After arriving at Hereford County Hospital, Mr Hankin added, she was heard by medics to say: "It's not my fault the baby died, is it? His head hit the floor and I was waiting for a noise."
Continuing the opening, Mr Hankin said: "The prosecution says that the defendant killed the baby to prevent the discovery of her pregnancy and his birth.
"She didn't want the baby.
"Despite having parents and siblings - whom she acknowledges are loving and supportive and to whom she could have turned for help and advice - she murdered him.
"The defendant says, on the other hand, that she gave birth suddenly and unexpectantly. She believed the baby was dead.
"She never intended to kill the baby, or to seriously harm him and she made no attempt to conceal the birth.
"It will be your task, having heard the evidence during this lengthy trial, whether the prosecution has satisfied you so you are sure of the defendant's guilt."
The jury then heard details about the baby's injury from a postmortem.
Mayo, of Ruardean, Gloucestershire - who wept as the case was opened - denies wrongdoing and the trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.