A mother accused of murdering her son said the three-year-old would ‘pay’ and get ‘his ass kicked’ in voice notes to her extramarital lover days before his death, a court has heard.

Christina Robinson is on trial accused of neglecting and murdering her toddler Dwelaniyah at their home on Bracken Court in Ushaw Moor, County Durham on November 5, 2022. 

On Tuesday (February 27) afternoon the court heard she sent voice messages to her lover complaining about “these damn kids and the terrible night of sleep that they [had] given her”.

Read more from the trial HERE

Jurors were told her husband and Dwelaniyah’s dad, who had joined the RAF, was away on training and she had been messaging a lover she’d met online who stayed overnight at the family home.

Robinson had also messaged a sperm donor on October 3 and was trying to get pregnant without her husband, the court heard.

The Northern Echo: Crime scene investigators outside the family home on Bracken Court in Ushaw Moor, Durham.Crime scene investigators outside the family home on Bracken Court in Ushaw Moor, Durham. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Prosecutor Richard Wright said that on October 28 she had messaged her lover saying the kids had been “crying, peeing the bed, pooing the bed, messing around with cups downstairs” and one had possibly got some of her tablets and taken some.

In a voice note to her lover played in court she said: “Now he’s picking up everything, and then he’s going to get his ass kicked.”

When he urged her, “Come on Chris he’s just a child, just tell him not do it.”, she replied: “The boy came down in the middle of the night and messed around with medication in the dark. He’s old enough to know better so he will pay.

“He will get exactly what he deserves. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

By that time, it is understood she had fallen pregnant.

Mr Wright said: “What is the significance of this evidence both her attempts to conceive using a sperm donor and her starting a relationship with another man whilst her husband was away in the RAF?

“She did become pregnant and as a result was in regular contact with medical professionals at the time that her son was suffering from terrible burns to his body. She was not willing to seek any treatment for him but was perfectly capable of liaising with medical professionals about herself.”

The Northern Echo: Dwelaniyah died on November 5, 2022.Dwelaniyah died on November 5, 2022. (Image: PA)

Speaking of the affair he said: “The defendant now asserts that beating a child with a cane so that she drew blood was consistent with her being an adherent of the teachings of the Bible. The rules of the Bible are something of a moveable feast for her.”

Earlier the court heard Dwelaniyah had suffered burns to 15 to 20% of his body, consistent with him being immersed in scalding water.

Jurors were told Robinson made internet searches for 'Natural remedies for burn wound', and 'How to treat a first degree burn' in the days after prosecutors believe the burns were inflicted, on October 18.

That day the court was told she called her son’s nursery saying she was having “car trouble” and would be unable to get him there, the court was told. But the prosecutor described this a “deliberate lie”, saying: “She wasn’t having any ‘car trouble’ and the reason she couldn’t take him to nursery and never took him to nursery again was it was likely that that is the day that he sustained those burn injuries.

“She knew if she took him to the nursery that the staff would see his injuries.”

The court was told Dwelaniyah, “suffered in pain for the next 18 days” until his death.

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When her lover saw the burns on a visit to the family home, he expressed concern about Dwelaniyah, but Mr Wright said she told him she’d taken her son to have the burns treated which was untrue, just as she had lied about her marital status and her husband’s whereabouts.

Christina Robinson denies the charges against her.

The trial continues.