According to court hearings, the mother of a three-year-old boy accused of killing him would beat him because he was prone to throwing toys at her and peeing on the floor.
Alicia Watson was a victim of child abuse in West Bromwich, and Nathaniel Pope was her ex-boyfriend.
BirminghamLive reported that the youngster succumbed to internal bleeding after the couple allegedly assaulted him in 2018.
Alicia Watson and her boyfriend Nathaniel Pope both deny murder and multiple child cruelty charges relating to toddler Kemarni Watson Darby (pictured) in West Bromwich
31-year-old Mr Pope would place Kemarni in an unlocked room, using snapped electric cables to close the door when the child was ‘naughty’. This continued until Kemarni had calmed down, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
A witness – who cannot be named for legal reasons – claimed Mr Pope would lock the youngster in a room ‘a lot’ but ‘never really’ beat him.
In an interview played to jurors, the witness said: ‘Pope used to get the wire and turn it around the door handle.
“It looked like an electrical wire. He would wrap it around the door handle.
Kemarni used to bang the door, trying to escape. [Pope] would just do nothing.’
Jurors in the murder trial heard how Ms Watson would allegedly beat Kemarni ‘really hard’ when he misbehaved.
Kemarni would be left feeling ‘really upset’ after the assaults and would just stay in his cot, the witness claimed.
The witness went on to say Ms Watson would not kick or punch her son but would only slap him.
Then they said, “Kemarni is naughty.” He always threw toys at people and swore because he got angry at people for some reason.’
Then they added, “Kemarni did many naughty stuff.” He used to always slam the doors. He would take his nappies off and then run. He used to open the door when Watson was on the toilet.
‘She got angry and kept on having to clean the carpet because he weed and pooed. He would be beat up by her.
Witness added that Ms Watson wouldn’t slap Kemarni in the face or on his arms.
BirminghamLive reports that the boy died from internal bleeding after suffering what he called a “vicious forceful attack” at the home of his parents in 2018.
According to them, she always displayed an angry expression. She did not punch or kick, it was mostly slapping.’
Kemarni was left with a ‘plethora’ of severe injuries including multiple fractures to his rib cage, as well as wounds to his liver and colon.
Bruising was uncovered on his lungs, head, mouth, neck, arms, chest, abdomen, back and legs, prosecutors previously said.
The ‘catalogue’ of injuries also included scars to the eyes, cheeks, knees and limbs.
Kemarni was found ‘lifeless’ at his home on Beacon View Road in West Bromwich, West Midlands, on June 5, 2018.
Watson, 30 of Raglan Road in Handsworth and Pope 31 of Evans Street in Wolverhampton both deny multiple charges of child cruelty and murder.
Continue the trial.