County Durham mum, accused of murdering toddler, says she wanted 10+ children
A mother accused of murdering her three-year-old son told jurors she wanted to have a family with more than 10 children.
A County Durham woman - accused of murdering her toddler - has been giving evidence at Newcastle Crown Court today - saying she wanted a family with more than 10 children.
Christina Robinson, 30, denies causing a fatal injury to her son Dwelaniyah by violently shaking him at the family home in Bracken Court, Ushaw Moor, Durham, in November 2022.
She denies charges of child cruelty and murder, and is accused of hitting the 3 year old with a bamboo cane, and deliberately scalding him.
Giving evidence in the witness box, Robinson said her marriage to Gabriel Adu-Appau was failing after he decided to join the RAF.
She told the jury she looked into using a sperm donor after the relationship "broke up".
Jamie Hill KC, defending, asked how many children she wanted to have.
"Double figures," she replied.
She also said she was prepared to be a surrogate mother for a friend, saying she was "very fertile", but in the end, it was not necessary as the woman got pregnant herself.
Today the court heard how Robinson hit her son to punish him for messing around with his food after she heard religious instruction online, saying she was following Bible quotes she had seen on YouTube.
The defendant is a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelites religion which follows the teachings of the Old and New Testament and the Apocrypha, and which says that they are a Tribe of Israel who were displaced to Africa then sold into slavery.
Robinson explained she had been listening and watching religious teachings online about chastisement.
"They had quoted certain scriptures which did promote using the rod for correction, so it stemmed from there," she said.
When Jamie Hill KC, defending, asked what Dwelaniyah had done that needed to be disciplined, she replied: "He was messing about with his food, he was not eating."
Robinson said she was a "complete beginner" as a follower of the religion then and she "did not have the understanding".
She added: "Honestly, I thought I was doing the right thing. I was happy and eager to jump into something, it felt like I belonged, but I just got it wrong.
"I didn't know what I was doing, I thought I was doing it right. I just really wanted to be obedient to God and I thought this was part of it."
Robinson said she now realised she was "misguided" then.
"I have had the opportunity to get into the Bible more and understand and get to know God more - my relationship with Him is great.
"Looking back I can see how much of a babe I was then - like a beginner."
She denied violently shaking Dwelaniyah or throwing him forcefully, saying she was pregnant at the time, adding: "I didn't have any energy that day, my iron levels were low."
She agreed with Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, when he said she did not use the cane on the little boy in anger, and she explained: "I thought I was doing the right thing after hearing the scriptures which promoted the use of a rod for correction."
She also told jurors she intended to have a large family with "double figure" children and had looked to use a sperm donor to get pregnant after the break-up of her marriage.
Robinson explained how her son was accidentally scalded when she washed him in the shower when the water suddenly became hot.
She explained she did not realise he was getting burned by the hot water as he normally cried when he was showered.
Robinson did not seek medical attention for the burns, saying she treated them herself in the following days, even when she realised he was badly hurt.
She told jurors: "I already felt ashamed at the time when it happened, I didn't mean to do this to him.
"As it got worse and worse, it just looked really bad. I knew it would look really bad."
Earlier, she referred to how she had changed since the break-up of her marriage and the death of her son, having previously "always been the happy, smiling one".
Robinson, originally from Tamworth, Staffordshire, said: "This is what you see now, there's nothing there, it's not reaching my face any more, I'm just numb."
Mr Hill asked who did the discipline in the house if both parents were there and the defendant answered that it was her husband.
She claimed he used shoes, a sandal, slippers, utensils or pieces of wood to discipline in the house.
Robinson told the jury that after one occasion, she had told her husband "that was unnecessary" but that "it was as if what I had said did not matter".
Robinson said she had discussed physical punishments with her husband, who grew up in Ghana, and she told the court: "He explained to me and told me stories about how things were done where he came from."
The court has heard Mr Adu-Appau was away from the family home, serving on an RAF base near Aylesbury when Dwelaniyah was fatally injured.
Robinson said she had four miscarriages but her husband only knew about two of them, adding: "He wasn't interested, he didn't care that they died."
She added: "It was a hard time for me, and I never have and I never will recover from them."
Robinson explained how her son was accidentally scalded when she washed him in the shower when the water suddenly became hot.
She explained she did not realise he was getting burned by the hot water as he normally cried when he was showered.
Robinson did not seek medical attention for the burns, saying she treated them herself in the following days, even when she realised he was badly hurt.
She told jurors: "I already felt ashamed at the time when it happened, I didn't mean to do this to him.
"As it got worse and worse, it just looked really bad.
"I knew it would look really bad."
The trial continues.