Murder Trial told of Lola James' Final Hours
Court heard her mum was woken by a "bang" and Lola's scream at midnight
A murder trial in Swansea has heard how a two-year-old girl lovingly called out: "Night mummy, love you" just hours before she was killed by her stepfather at home.
Little Lola James was left alone with stepfather Kyle Bevan, 31, while her mum Sinead James, 30, went to bed in the early evening.
But a court heard James was woken by a "bang" and Lola's scream at midnight before she found Bevan hugging her daughter in her bedroom.
Giving evidence, James said she asked her boyfriend what was going on while he was sitting on the bottom bunk of her daughter's bed.
Bevan told her "I've got this" before James said goodnight to her daughter and she replied: "Night mummy, love you."
Swansea Crown Court heard James was woken just hours later by Bevan at 7.20am to say Lola had fallen down the stairs.
She told the jury she got dressed before rushing down the stairs to see Lola with a "swollen head" and thought: "What's happened to my baby."
James said: "Kyle was waking me up at 7.20am to say my daughter has fallen down the stairs. I got dressed and went downstairs.
"Lola was on the sofa and her head was swollen and her lips. Kyle told me she fell down the stairs.
"When I was on the phone to the ambulance or just before he said the dog pushed her down the stairs and barged her.
"The dog would usually be at the bottom of my bed. He said he had put his finger in her mouth the stop her fitting and he showed me something on his finger and said it was a bit of her tongue."
The court heard James believed an ambulance had already been called for her daughter when she woken by Bevan.
She said: "I thought there was one on the way. I thought 'what's happened to my baby.' I didn't realise it would be this serious, I thought it was just a fall down the stairs."
James said she was "frantic" when she called her mother to come over to the family home while Bevan picked up seriously injured Lola.
She said: "I thought it was disgusting that Kyle picked her up. He could have just left her sleep."
The court heard the pair met on Facebook just five months before Lola was killed on July 17, 2020 at the home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
James said Lola had suffered an injury eight days before her death when she was left alone with Bevan.
She said: "Kyle said the dog has knocked Lola off the sofa onto the coffee table. She had bruising on the top of her nose and under both of her eyes."
The court heard James had no concerns with leaving Bevan alone with her child after she suffered the injury.
The court heard she had witnessed Bevan "smashing up the house" in May 2020 after he flew into an alcohol and drugs-fuelled rage.
But she allowed him to stay living in the home before he carried out a "frenzied and extremely violent attack" on Lola.
James, of Neyland, denies causing or allowing the death of a child. Bevan, of Aberystwyth, denies murder.
The trial continues.