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Man murdered infant daughter two weeks after adoption, trial told Man murdered infant daughter two weeks after adoption, trial told
(about 3 hours later)
A fitness instructor murdered his 18-month-old daughter just two weeks after he and his husband formally adopted her, a jury has been told.A fitness instructor murdered his 18-month-old daughter just two weeks after he and his husband formally adopted her, a jury has been told.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, is accused of killing Elsie after “assaulting and abusing” her. Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, allegedly physically abused Elsie for months before shaking her to death at the four-bedroom family home in the Cardiff suburb of Llandaff.
Cardiff crown court heard Scully-Hicks and his husband, Craig, began looking after her in September 2015 and the adoption process was finalised about eight months later. The jury was told that Scully-Hicks was struggling to cope with the girl, telling his partner, Craig Scully-Hicks, that Elsie was “a psycho” and “satan dressed up in a baby grow”, while neighbours allegedly heard him swearing at and insulting the child.
But less than two weeks after this, Elsie died in hospital having suffered traumatic head injuries. Scully-Hicks, of Delabole, north Cornwall, denies murdering the child at the couple’s home in Llandaff, Cardiff. Cardiff crown court heard that the couple began looking after Elsie in September 2015 and the adoption process was finalised on 12 May 2016. Matthew Scully-Hicks stayed at home to look after Elsie and her adoptive sibling while Craig, a company director, went out to work.
Paul Lewis QC, prosecuting, said Wales ambulance service received a 999 call from Scully-Hicks at about 6.20pm on 25 May 2016, reporting that Elsie was unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and found the child was not breathing. On 25 May 2016 at 6.18pm, Wales ambulance service received a 999 call from Matthew Scully-Hicks.
She received first aid from the paramedics before being taken to the University Hospital of Wales, where she died in the early hours of 29 May. “I was just changing my daughter for bed and she went all floppy and limp,” he told the operator. During the 999 call, Scully-Hicks could be heard saying: “Oh my God” and “this is horrible”.
Lewis said: “It is the prosecution case that the injuries that caused Elsie’s death were inflicted upon her by the defendant shortly before he called the emergency services on that day. Paramedics and police found Elsie not breathing and in cardiac arrest. Scully-Hicks allegedly explained to a paramedic the child had “screamed out as in pain, then collapsed”.
“We allege that his attack on her on that day was not the first time that he had employed violence towards Elsie, nor was it the first time that he had caused her serious injury. At the hospital, Scully-Hicks told police, doctors and his husband that he had changed Elsie on the floor in front of the television.
“We allege that his actions on the late afternoon/evening of 25 May were the tragic culmination of a course of violence conduct on his part towards a defenceless child – an infant he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused and ultimately murdered.” He said he took the dirty nappy out to the kitchen, leaving Elsie on the floor and returned to find her apparently sleeping. He said she did not respond and he began CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
Medical tests at the hospital found Elsie had bilateral subdural haemorrhages, bleeding on both sides of her brain. Paul Lewis QC, prosecuting, said: “The injuries that caused Elsie’s death were inflicted upon her by the defendant shortly before he called the emergency services.
There was evidence of both recent and older bleeding in her brain. “We allege that his actions on 25 May were the tragic culmination of a course of violence conduct towards a defenceless child – an infant he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused and ultimately murdered.”
A postmortem revealed Elsie also had several broken ribs, a fractured left femur and a fractured skull. A postmortem found Elsie had recent and older bleeding on both sides of her brain. She had haemorrhages in both eyes and fractures to her skull and her ribs.
Jurors were told the child, described as “tiny and delicate” but with a “brash and bouncy” personality by Scully-Hicks’s husband, Craig, a company director, was with her new family for less than two months when her right leg was broken in November 2015. Lewis told the jury that a consultant paediatrician, Stephen Rose, said he believed Elsie died after she was shaken violently. Consultant neuroradiologist Neil Stoodley concluded Elsie suffered “abusive head trauma that involved a shaking mechanism”.
On that occasion, Matthew Scully-Hicks allegedly told Craig that Elsie had fallen in the kitchen of their home that morning as she was playing. The prosecutor outlined previous injuries Elsie allegedly suffered. On 5 November 2015, she sustained two fractures to her right leg and in December a bruise to her head. Scully-Hicks claimed in each case she had fallen.
Lewis told the jury: “He said that Elsie had been upset following her fall but he had picked her up and consoled her and she had then seemed fine.” On 10 March, Craig Scully-Hicks received a phone call from his husband saying that he was in an ambulance with Elsie as she had fallen down the stairs. Elsie’s injuries were considered to be consistent with such a fall and she was allowed to go home.
The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues. Jurors were told the child was described as “tiny and delicate” but with a “brash and bouncy” personality by Craig Scully-Hicks.
But the court heard that on 22 September 2015 – 12 days after Elsie arrived – Matthew Scully-Hicks sent a message to a friend saying: “I’m going through hell with Elsie! Mealtimes and bedtime are like my worst nightmare at the moment. She’s been up there screaming for 10 minutes non stop. She’s just stopped but I doubt that’s the last I’ll hear tonight.”
That evening he also sent a message to Craig calling Elsie “a psycho” and on 29 September, he sent a message to his husband describing Elsie as “Satan dressed up in a baby grow”.
Mother and son Susan and James Bevan, who lived next door, said they heard Scully-Hicks apparently shouting at Elisa. One one occasion he was allegedly heard yelling: “Shut up you little fucking brat.”
The court heard that Matthew Scully-Hicks has no criminal convictions. He met his husband while living in Wiltshire in about 2006. The couple relocated to south Wales, where Scully-Hicks is from, in 2010.
They married in Portugal in August 2012 and applied to become adopters later that year. It was agreed that Scully-Hicks would give up full-time work to care for any children, with his husband continuing with his job.
Representing Scully-Hicks, Robert O’Sullivan QC said his client denied causing the injuries to Elsie.
He said: “You will hear witness after witness speak of Mr Scully-Hicks’ palpable love and devotion to both of his children and of the deep and loving bond that he had developed with Elsie.”
O’Sullivan said his client had repeatedly taken Elsie to the doctor and other healthcare professionals. He said the couple were closely monitored by social services and the authorities through the adoption process.
Elsie may have had insufficient vitamin D levels, affecting the density and structure of her bones, making them more susceptible to fracturing, he added.
Elsie was removed from her natural mother, a drug user, within days of her birth in November 2014, the court heard. She was placed in the care of Vale of Glamorgan council and later went to live with the Scully-Hicks when she was 10 months.
Scully-Hicks denies murdering the child. The trial, expected to last five weeks, continues.