Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: Dad and im partner dey guilty of killing six-year-old pikin

Published

Court don find one papa and im wife guilty of di killing of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Thomas Hughes and Emma Tustin starve and torture di boy, wey eventually die of head injury while im bin dey in di care of im stepmother.

Tustin shake im head and bang am against one hard surface afta im poison am with salt, di court hear.

For Coventry Crown Court, dem convict Tustin of murder and dem find Hughes guilty of manslaughter.

Dem also convict di two of child cruelty charges.

Afta di verdicts di jury ask if dem fit hold a minute silence for Arthur - Dem allow dem do so. Dem also excuse dem from sitting on anoda jury for life.

Di jury hear weeks of strong disturbing evidence, including how dem dey force Arthur eat food wey full of salt, keep am isolated inside di house, starve am of food, water, and beat am.

Dem force am to "stand like a statue" near di front door for hours, and on anoda occasion im papa cut up two of im Birmingham City shirts as punishment.

Di Jurors also watch audio and video clips wey dem record in di final weeks of Arthur life, including CCTV from one camera inside di house on di morning before im death, where e appear to dey limp and cry, and struggle to fold up di duvet dem bin give am to sleep downstairs.

Inside one audio clip, Arthur dey cry dey say "nobody love me," e repeat di word four times, while inside anoda one e cry say "nobody go give me food" seven times.

While dem accuse Tustin say she carry out di assault wey kill di boy by shaking am seriously and banging Arthur head many times ontop hard surface afta dem poison am with "salt slurry", Hughes bin "get hand for di violence," prosecutors tell di jurors.

Despite medical evidence wey suggest say e no get way wey Arthur injure imsef so bad to kill imsef, Tustin maintain say she no dey responsible.

She take foto of Arthur on her mobile phone as e dey ground dey die for di hallway and send di image to Hughes, di court hear.

She den wait till 12 minutes to call 999, she lie to medics say Arthur "fall and bang im head and while im dey ground, e bang im head anoda five times", later she claim say e maybe throw imsef down di stairs despite di evidence say e barely dey strong enough to pick up im own bedsheet.

Although e no dey present for di assault wey kill Arthur, prosecutors argue say Hughes get hand as e "encourage" violence against im son, as well as to dey beat am imself.

Di court bin hear say Hughes bin don threaten im son severally to "put am six feet under", and bin also sen Tustin message dem like "just end am".

For court, prosecutors bin describe di two of dem as "utterly ruthless, unthinking and pitiless".

Dem bin don jail Arthur biological mama herself for stabbing her own partner to death.

Hughes and Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow bin share custody of dia son until her arrest for killing 29-year-old delivery driver Gary Cunningham for dia house for Frensham Way, Birmingham, for February 2019.