Star Hobson murder trial: Toddler had 'utterly catastrophic' injuries

A toddler died from "utterly catastrophic injuries" after repeated assaults by her mother and her mother's partner, a court has heard.

Sixteen-month-old Star Hobson suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital on 22 September 2020.

Her mother Frankie Smith, 20, and Savannah Brockhill, 28, both from Keighley, West Yorkshire, deny murder.

The child had been either punched, kicked or stamped on, Bradford Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Alistair MacDonald said she "suffered a number of significant injuries at different times", including fractures to the back of the head and right shin, with the latter "caused by forceful twisting".

"Star had been repeatedly physically assaulted over the weeks and months before her death," he said.

She was found "apparently lifeless, pale" and wearing only a nappy when paramedics arrived at the couple's flat on Wesley Place after a 999 call made by one of the defendants, Mr MacDonald said.

Internet searches on "shock in babies" and "how to bring a baby out of shock" were made 15 minutes before medics were called at 15:49 BST, the jury heard.

The toddler died an hour later in hospital and a post-mortem examination found lacerations on her internal organs and bruising over the lungs and abdomen, jurors heard.

"All these injuries had been caused by a severe and forceful blow, or blows, either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen," said the prosecutor.

Mr MacDonald said that Ms Smith and Ms Brockhill were the only adults in the flat at the time, although two other young children were present.

He told the jury: "It will be the prosecution case that it is nothing short of absurd to suggest that these injuries were caused by another young child.

"Despite the catalogue of injuries of which we have spoken, at no time was Star taken for medical help other, of course, than that 999 call made in the last hour and 15 minutes of Star's life."

Mr MacDonald said it was also the case that social workers, who were aware of Star's case, were "kept away" from her.

The court heard how Ms Smith's grandparents had witnessed their great-grandchild turn from a happy baby into a "depressed child" in the months leading up to her death.

Jurors were shown video footage of Star being shouted at in her home and told she had suffered "a degree of cruelty and psychological harm which is all too apparent".

They were also told how, on separate occasions, Ms Smith, of Halifax Road, had been seen with bruising on her neck and arms, as well as her eye and back, and that Ms Brockhill, of Hawthorn Close, took a "more controlling role in the parenting of Star".

The trial continues.

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