Man on trial for murder tells court he carried out CPR on his stepdaughter
|
Version 0 of 1. A stepfather accused of stamping a toddler to death carried out CPR on the child while he claimed the little girl’s mother was out getting cannabis, a court has heard. Matthew Rigby claimed he was about to take a shower when he heard a noise from the little girl, Ayeeshia Jane Smith, and found her turning blue. Asked where the child’s mother, Kathryn Smith, had been at the time, the 22-year-old said she had gone out to “pick up [cannabis]”, but had left without telling him where she was going. Rigby and Ayeeshia’s mother, 23-year-old Smith, are on trial at Birmingham crown court jointly accused of murdering the 21-month-old girl, causing or allowing the tot’s death and cruelty. The incident, at a flat where Smith lived in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, happened on 3 February 2014 and has been linked by medical experts to a historical brain bleed the child had suffered and which was only uncovered after death. Ayeeshia, known as AJ, died three months later after suffering a fatal heart laceration injury of the kind more often seen by doctors dealing with car crash victims. The youngster had been known to Derbyshire social services all her life and was on Tuesday described by Rigby as “a lovely little girl”. The former apprentice engineer admitted having two previous convictions for assault and regularly working out at the gym during that time, but denied ever harming the girl or witnessing Smith do the toddler any harm. Giving evidence for the first time, Rigby told the jury on Tuesday he was smoking cannabis three or four times a week with Smith. He claimed Smith would get moody and frustrated if she could not have a joint. Rigby was asked about several injuries, including a large cruciform-pattern bruise on the little girl’s back, a bald patch on her head, and a mark on her chin. He said Smith had explained most of these injuries to him but he was never present when they happened. On 3 February 2014, Rigby was alone in the flat and about to take a shower when he claimed he heard Ayeeshia make “a high-pitched” noise, and found the girl blue and unresponsive. He said: “She wasn’t responding to anything I was saying to her, she wasn’t moving and she wasn’t breathing.” Rigby said he started giving CPR to the girl, but said Smith was not present, having gone out to get cannabis. After a spell in hospital the little girl made a full recovery and was allowed home with her mother and stepfather. Rigby also gave a different account to that of Smith when asked about an incident when Ayeeshia cut her lip badly during a fall in the bathroom. When she gave evidence last week, Smith denied being present but Rigby told the jury his girlfriend was in the bath when the little girl had fallen, adding: “I saw that with my own eyes.” He said: “She was just jumping in the bath and there wasn’t anything to stop her from slipping.” Rigby’s barrister, Mark Heywood QC, asked him about Ayeeshia’s fatal collapse at the family’s flat in Britannia Drive in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, on 1 May 2014. He described hearing a noise and then going with Smith to find the toddler dying in front of him. Heywood asked: “Something happened that afternoon that must have been a very considerable use of force on AJ?” Rigby replied: “I have never done anything like that.” Earlier, Rigby described his relationship with the little girl, saying: “AJ had a really big impact on my life – a very positive one.” He added: “She was just a lovely little girl.” Rigby revealed to the jury that he had himself been in care, from the age of 13 to 18, and had criminal records including convictions as a youth for burglary and two assaults. Describing his relationship with Smith, he said they had begun a romance in October 2013, telling the jury he wanted to help the young mother “better herself”. That statement caused Smith, sitting some distance away in the dock, to shake her head as she listened to Rigby’s account to the jury. However, he also accepted that their relationship could be volatile and there were verbal arguments throughout the time they were together. In one such row, he stormed out, telling the jury: “As I was walking down the street, I told her I was going to blow her house up.” Jurors have already heard how Smith gave Rigby a silver-coloured locket containing Ayeeshia’s ashes just before the start of the trial, and how their relationship had continued right up to that point. Smith, and Rigby, both from Nottingham, deny all the charges. The trial continues. |