A mother has been found guilty of murdering her three-year-old son after she deliberately scalded him and beat him with a bamboo cane – claiming the Bible told her to.
Christina Robinson, 30, lost her temper and violently shook her son Dwelaniyah at the home in Ushaw Moor, Durham, in November 2022.
The defendant, originally from Tamworth in Staffordshire, has today been convicted of murder and four child cruelty charges.
The jury found that Robinson did cause a fatal brain injury to her son on November 5 2022 while she was the only adult in the house.
Robinson, a member of the extremist Black Hebrew Israelite religion, admitted hitting the little boy with a bamboo cane but claimed she was following a Bible scripture which advised the use of the rod for the ‘correction’ of children.
Christina Robinson has been convicted of burning and killing her three-year-old son Dwelaniyah (pictured) at their home in County Durham
Robinson, a follower of the extremist Black Hebrew Israelites, talked about the Bible encouraging the use of the rod for discipline when asked whether she beat her son
Robinson, who was representing herself after sacking her legal team, was also found guilty at Newcastle Crown Court of four child cruelty charges
She told the court her reason to use the cane was that the youngster was messing around with his food.
In the weeks before Dwelaniyah’s death, she had deliberately immersed him in scalding water, causing severe burns that would have caused excruciating pain.
She treated his injuries herself and did not seek medical help as safeguarding concerns would have been obvious if a health worker saw him.
It was more than 20 minutes before she dialled 999, first speaking to her husband on the phone despite him being away serving 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 at the scene Dwelaniyah could not be saved and probably died at the house, although further attempts to resuscitate him were made in hospital.
A post-mortem examination revealed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained a number of non-accidental injuries.
Richard Wright, prosecuting, said: ‘In other words, somebody had been deliberately hurting this little boy and had been doing so over a period of time.
Pictured: Detectives search Robinson’s home in Ushaw Moor, County Durham
Pictured: Forensics at the scene where Dwelaniyah was found ‘covered in minor injuries’ which Robinson claims were caused by her son bumping into furniture in the family home
‘That person was his mother, the defendant Christina Robinson.’
In his closing speech, Mr Wright told the court: ‘He was subjected to a campaign of violence and cruelty by his mother for petty wrongs.’
Her husband, Dwelaniyah’s father, Gabriel Adu-Appau was away from the family home when his son was repeatedly injured.
He did not play any role in the trial.
His wife was using a sperm donor to try to conceive and, in October 2022, had also made contact with a man named Chisom Innocent Onoja 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.
The judge Mr Justice Garnham said this afternoon he would sentence Robinson on May 24.
He raised concerns that she no longer had legal representation, after she sacked her barristers and lawyers towards the end of the trial.
He told her: ‘As a result I’m not going to sentence you today. The question arises as to when I should sentence you. Are you willing to or intending to obtain legal assistance for that stage of the process?’
After she replied, ‘I can cionsider it’, Mr Justice Garnham added: ‘I advise you in the strongest possible terms to consider it very carefully.’