A woman who subjected her three-year-old son to a campaign of “sadistic cruelty” and punishment for petty wrongs has been found guilty of his murder.
Christina Robinson, 30, had admitted beating her son with a cane for playing with his food, saying she was following the teachings of the Bible.
But she denied losing her temper, shaking him and causing a fatal brain injury. She also denied deliberately immersing him in scalding hot water after he soiled himself. It caused terrible, agonising burns that she failed to get medical treatment for.
A jury at Newcastle crown court on Thursday found her guilty of murder and four child cruelty charges. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Robinson was on trial for murdering Dwelaniyah at the family home in Ushaw Moor, Durham, in November 2022.
The trial heard that the cruelty and murder took place while her husband, the boy’s father, was away doing basic training in the RAF.
During the trial Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said Dwelaniyah had been subjected to “sadistic cruelty” by his mother. “He was subjected to a campaign of violence and cruelty by his mother for petty wrongs,” Wright said.
It escalated in the weeks leading up to his death, he said. “The violence was ramped up until he could stand it no more and he died.”
Robinson admitted using a garden bamboo cane to beat Dwelaniyah because he was messing about with his food.
She was a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, she said, and had been watching a YouTube video that quoted scripture promoting the rod for correction. Giving evidence, Robinson said she was a “complete beginner” and now realised she was misguided.
The jury found Robinson did cause a fatal brain injury to her son on 5 November 2022 while she was the only adult in the house. It was more than 20 minutes before she dialled 999, first speaking to her husband on the phone despite him being with the RAF 240 miles away, and then using Google to look at how to resuscitate a child.
When the emergency services arrived, Robinson appeared calm as she explained her version of events to a police officer while medics worked desperately on Dwelaniyah.
Despite their efforts he could not be saved and probably died at the house, although further attempts to resuscitate him were made in hospital.
A postmortem revealed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and sustained a number of non-accidental injuries.
Robinson grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire, before her family relocated to Bulgaria when she was 16 because her mother wanted to be mortgage-free. She returned to the UK aged 23 and moved to north-east England to bring up a family with her husband.
Robinson said her husband did not want more children. She told the court that she wanted to have a large family with “double figure” children.
The trial heard Robinson was using a sperm donor to try to conceive and, in October 2022, had also made contact with a man using a dating app.
When she became pregnant, Robinson was in regular contact with health professionals, although she was not willing to get treatment for her son’s injuries.
She originally told police that Dwelaniyah suffered his burns by messing about in the shower.
After giving her evidence Robinson dispensed with her defence lawyers.
Mr Justice Garnham will pass sentence on 24 May, giving time to the defendant to seek legal representation after she parted with her team.
He thanked the jury, some of whom were visibly upset, for their “obvious care and attention”, and excused them from further service for 20 years. The judge said: “I know from looking at you, this has been a stressful process, you need to get away and do something else, and think about something more cheerful. I am extremely grateful for all you have done.”