Mother sentenced to life in prison for killing 3-year-old son, used Bible to justify abuse
A 30-year-old mother in England has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a mandatory minimum of 25 years for the murder of her 3-year-old son after she attempted to justify weeks of abuse preceding the child's death by saying the "the Bible advised it.”
During the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, evidence emerged that Christina Robinson, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, subjected her son, Dwelaniyah, to a prolonged period of cruelty, utilizing a bamboo cane for beatings, which she justified using biblical scripture as guidance, The Telegraph reported.
This scripture, she claimed, sanctioned physical chastisement to correct a child's behavior. Robinson's defense centered around these religious beliefs linked to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a faith she adheres to.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The movement's members, comprising those who believe African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites from the Bible, adhere strictly to their interpretations of the Bible, which they believe to be the literal word of God. Some groups also incorporate elements of the Torah into their religious practices. However, not all groups within the movement share the same doctrines, and beliefs can range from orthodox to more Christian-influenced interpretations.
Justice Garnham, presiding over the trial, condemned Robinson's actions, highlighting the brutal nature of the offenses, including an incident where she scalded her son in boiling water after he soiled himself. This act reportedly caused severe burns to 20% of his body, primarily affecting his lower limbs. Robinson did not seek medical help, likely because it would have revealed the abuse due to the obvious nature of his injuries to case workers.
The culmination of this abuse was a fatal head injury that Robinson inflicted on Nov. 5, 2022, in their home in Ushaw Moor, Durham, by shaking or possibly throwing Dwelaniyah against a hard object, as concluded by a post-mortem examination, which confirmed that the child had suffered multiple non-accidental injuries over a period.
A police support officer, Paul Gilroy, who responded to an emergency call at Robinson's home, told the court that he arrived alongside the paramedics, as reported by ITV. He observed a little boy wearing a nappy, his legs wrapped in blood-stained bandages. As the paramedics attended to her son, Robinson remained mostly silent and passive. When questioned by the ambulance crew about the incident, she claimed ignorance of what had transpired. Gilroy noted her demeanor as surprisingly calm and seemingly unpanicked.
The court heard from prosecutor Richard Wright that the violence was often inflicted for minor misbehaviors that Robinson perceived as severe offenses deserving harsh physical punishment.
"These beatings were administered as punishments for behavior that was objectively trivial," Garnham noted, according to The Telegraph.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Simon Turner expressed his distress over the case.
"Dwelaniyah was a defenseless little boy who had his life ahead of him, but this was cruelly taken away by his own mother — someone he should have been able to trust, someone who should have cared about him," Turner was quoted as saying.
Evidence presented at the trial indicated that Robinson was engaged in an extramarital affair while her husband was stationed at a military base near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, over 240 miles away. The court heard that Robinson was pregnant at the time of the murder, having used a sperm donor, and was also pursuing another relationship she had initiated online.
The court dismissed Robinson's claims that she didn't intend to kill her son and rejected any suggestion of sadism in her actions, instead attributing the motive to a misguided adherence to her religious beliefs about discipline. Robinson, representing herself after parting ways with her legal team, continued to deny her guilt and insisted on her innocence.
