Man found guilty in U.K. of abusing, murdering 3-year-old

A man was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering his partner’s three-year-old son after weeks of cruelly abusing the boy in their home in West Bromwich, England.

After a 20-week trial, Nathaniel Pope, 31, was charged with child cruelty on April 12 for his treatment of Kermani Watson Darby, who was found with injuries that are comparable to those individuals get from a car crash or a fall from a high place, reported the BBC. 

Pope’s partner Alicia Watson, Kermani’s mother, 30, was convicted of causing or allowing her son’s death. 

After being abused "for days, months and hours on end," Kermani died on June 5, 2018, at their two-bedroom flat from a crushed ribcage. According to the prosecutors, a “vicious, forceful assault” split open his abdomen and caused “massive” internal bleeding. 

Upon examining his body, Kermani was found with 34 different external injuries, which the court called “silent witnesses” to the crime. The injuries included wounds to his liver and colon, and multiple broken ribs, which are believed to have been caused up to four weeks before he was killed.

"It's Kemarni's body that spoke the loudest, with the most clarity, in this courtroom. His squeezed, battered and lifeless, oxygen-starved body cannot lie," said prosecutor Tony Badenoch.

During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Pope and Watson blamed each other. Watson claimed that Pope attacked Kemari while she was away and said she was horrified about the incident.  

When asked about the evidence of abuse and injuries on Kermani’s body, Watson claimed she was not aware of any. “He had old scarring from accidents but nothing new as far as I knew… I didn't cause them, I didn't see them. I loved and cared for my child for three years," she said.

“The severity of Kemarni’s injuries were such that each defendant must have been aware that he had suffered really serious harm and would suffer in the same way in the event of further attacks,” said Badenoch.

The Sandwell Children’s Safeguarding Partnership is currently conducting a safeguarding investigation to determine whether there were any opportunities to have saved Kermani. However, no safeguarding concerns about Kermani had been previously expressed, the organization added in a statement.

When family members raised concerns about Kermani’s injuries, Watson replied by saying Kermani was a “boisterous boy” who was “always running into things.” Kermani’s nursery also reached out to Watson concerning two slip lips, but were given similar explanations. 

"It is vital that sad cases like these are thoroughly looked at and, where there are areas for improvement, that any necessary changes are made,” said chair Lesley Hagger, adding that the case was “deeply upsetting.”

During the trial, the jury learned that Pope and Watson routinely abused drugs. Pope had also been to prison for fourth months after smashing the head of a woman on a handrail in a London bus in front of her children in 2011, reported the BBC. 

In 2011, Pope was also handed a prison sentence of 12 months for burglary and, in 2013, 20 months for possessing heroin. 

"It's absolutely awful that the two people who were supposed to look after him the most were those that caused injury and in the end his death," said Detective Inspector James Mahon.

Pope and Watson were separately convicted of two other counts of child cruelty on other children. They will be sentenced at a later date.