A stepfather filmed himself trying to prop up a fatally injured two-year-old girl after allegedly carrying out a ‘frenzied’ attack, a court heard today, before telling the camera: ‘She’s gone’.
Lola James died from a catastrophic brain injury after she was allegedly attacked by her mother’s boyfriend, Kyle Bevan, 31, at her Pembrokeshire home.
He then tried to blame her 101 different injuries on the family dog, claiming it had pushed her down the stairs.
Mother Sinead James, 30, told police she was asleep when Lola suffered a series of horrific injuries – and claimed to have no reason to think Bevan would harm her.
A court heard James failed to protect her daughter when she allowed Bevan to move into their home.
Lola James suffered 101 injuries, including a catastrophic brain injury, the court heard
Kyle Bevan, 31, is said to have killed the two-year-old before waiting an hour to phone for medical help
Lola’s mother Sinead James, 30, has been charged with causing or allowing the death of a child
Lola died just four months after he moved in from the ‘frenzied and extremely violent attack.’
The court heard doctors at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff found 101 surface injuries on Lola including ‘bruising all over her little body and grazing of the skin.’
She also suffered extensive damage to every part of both retinas along with a catastrophic brain injury and died four days later, aged just two years and nine months.
The jury was shown the ‘disturbing’ video, filmed by a topless Bevan, in which he can be seen lifting an unresponsive Lola and trying to place her on her feet and get her to stand. He then lets her go and a thud can be heard as she falls to the ground.
Bevan then places Lola back on the sofa where she can be heard snoring, and he walks towards the camera saying ‘She’s gone. She’s gone.’
The video was sent by Bevan in a message to his mother, Alison Bevan, a healthcare worker, at 6.58am.
In transcripts of messages shown to the jury, Ms Bevan urges her son to call the emergency services.
Having first called his mother at 6.40am, it was not until almost an hour later at 7.30am that Bevan messaged his mother asking her to call an ambulance, claiming his phone could not make calls.
Bevan also sent a number of pictures of Lola’s face to his mother. These images were displayed in court and showed Lola unconscious with an extremely swollen and bruised head and swollen lips.
Ms Rees said: ‘At 6.58am Kyle Bevan sends to Alison Bevan what the prosecution say is a disturbing 22-second film of Kyle Bevan trying to prop up a clearly unconscious and severely injured Lola.
‘If this really was an accident why was Kyle Bevan spending time staging a recording like this rather than doing everything he could to contact the emergency services?’
The footage was taken 26 minutes after Bevan had already carried out a series of internet searches at 6.32am.
Bevan is said to have also made a number of internet searches for information about babies suffering head injuries, including at 6.32am when he googled: ‘my 2 year old child has just taken a bang to the head and gone all limp and snoring. What’s wrong’.
Ms Rees said it is the prosecution’s case that Bevan delayed getting help for Lola in order to ‘cover his tracks’, and she may have had a higher chance of survival had paramedics been called immediately.
The court heard that Facebook messages between the couple showed Lola had suffered injuries while in the sole care of Bevan in the months leading up to her death.
On April 19 2020 Lola is said to have suffered a ‘bloodied nose’ while James was in a different room.
Ms Rees said: ‘Kyle Bevan messages Sinead James to say it could have been worse and how he hoped she had learned not to play on the stairs.’
Around a week later, on April 26, messages show Lola had a grazed chin while in Bevan’s care. He blamed it on her having fallen over earlier, calling her a ‘crazy kid’.
There are then messages referring to Lola having a cut lip on May 4.
Following the injury Bevan messaged James claiming that Lola had fallen off her bed and bit her lip when he had gone into her bedroom after hearing her crying.
He added: ‘Then when I was trying to help her cuz she was bleeding she was making a stupid noise and kicking right off you… Spitting at me and making a horrible noise… The whole thing upset me a bit I only wanted to help her .. feel useless … and I feel like you don’t trust me at all anymore xxxxxx.’
A friend of Lola’s mother, Casey Morgan, is expected to give evidence about how she saw bruises on Lola’s legs while she was playing in the park on July 5 and that a week before her death on July 9 she saw Lola on a video call with a nose injury and bruising to her eyes.
James told Ms Morgan Lola had fallen off the sofa on to the coffee table.
Ms Rees said James also suffered abuse at the hands of Bevan, who was an amphetamine user and prone to violent outbursts.
She said: ‘Messaging between the couple in the months leading up to Lola’s death, which you will see in the course of the evidence in the case, demonstrate, we say, an escalation of domestic abuse and aggression in the home.
‘The prosecution say that Sinead James at very least ought to have known that keeping Lola in this environment was exposing her to a significant risk of serious violence at the hands of Kyle Bevan.
‘We say she did nothing to keep Lola safe.
‘Instead, on the night of 16th and 17th July 2020 she left Lola in Kyle Bevan’s sole care whilst she went to bed with the tragic consequences which we know were to follow.’
James denies she was aware of the risk posed to Lola by Bevan.
Ms Rees said consultant paediatrician Dr Deborah Stalker has said ‘Lola’s brain and retinal injuries can be explained by abusive head trauma which would include violent shaking’.
‘Much of the widespread bruising is, in her opinion, consistent with inflicted blunt trauma rather than accidental injury,’ she said.
Ms Rees said Dr Stalker also concluded that ‘should Lola have received treatment immediately, the damage to the brain may been less thus increasing her chance of survival’.
Lola suffered extensive damage to every part of both retinas along with a catastrophic brain injury and died four days later
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC said Bevan searched the internet for information about ‘babies’ sustaining head impact and loss of consciousness’ on the morning of the alleged attack on July 17, 2020.
He also took photos and a video of Lola’s swollen head after her injuries.
Swansea Crown Court heard mother James knew her boyfriend had a ‘nasty and violent temper’ but chose to ‘prioritise her relationship with him over her own daughter’s physical safety.’
Mrs Rees said: ‘We say that although Kyle Bevan was not Lola’s father biologically, she should have been able to trust him as an adult in her home not to cause her any harm.
‘We say that he seriously abused that trust. We say also that Lola should have been able to rely on her own mother to keep her safe from harm and physical risk.
‘Sinead James, the prosecution say, seriously failed in her duty towards her young child.’
Mrs Rees continued: ‘The Prosecution say that Kyle Bevan needed that hour to concoct lies to protect himself and to come up with an excuse for how this little child had gone from being alive and well to being in such a perilous state whilst she was alone with him.
‘He needed the time to cover his tracks. When paramedics arrived they found that Lola had been dressed but was wet and that Lola was seriously ill.
‘She was unconscious, though still breathing, and her head and face were swollen.
‘Bruises were noted on Lola’s forehead. Kyle Bevan continued to try and explain things away by blaming the family dog for pushing Lola downstairs.
‘The prosecution say that was a deliberate lie to cover up his guilt.’
The jury was also shown photos images of the plans of the family home with the stairs in the centre of the downstairs floor plan and a bunkbed in Lola’s bedroom.
Photos from police crime scene investigators also showed a ‘clean and shiny bath’ while the rest of the house was piled with clutter and toys.
Mrs Rees said: ‘Despite the fact the house was generally dirty and untidy, the bath appeared to be spotless as though it had recently been cleaned.
‘Also recovered in the course of the search was a child’s wet and vomit and blood stained grey onesie which was found in the corner of the living room.
‘The Prosecution say that the combination of these features show that Kyle Bevan was desperately trying to cover his tracks even as far as cleaning the bath that we say he put Lola in, perhaps to revive her after his attack or to clean her of blood and vomit.
‘Curtains and a sheet were recovered from the washing machine.’
The court heard Bevan had ‘scrubbed off’ temporary tattoos that had been seen on little Lola just days earlier.
Mrs Rees said Lola was first taken to Withybush hospital in Haverfordwest when became ‘agitated and hostile’ towards emergency doctor Dr Nicola Drake.
The court heard he wanted to know if the answers he gave to questions were confidential before he raised his voice at the doctor.
Bevan then threatened: ‘If you take one step out of this room with those notes, I’ll rip them out of your hands’.
Mrs Rees said: His aggression was such that Dr Drake was frightened he would attack her but she stood up to him and told him the police would be called to which he replied ‘Ha – police’.
The court heard Lola had suffered injuries in Bevan’s care before her death but her mother still allowed him to share the family home.
Mrs Rees said: ‘The relationship between the defendants was volatile. Kyle Bevan was an unpredictable character who was prone to aggressive outbursts which appeared to escalate as his relationship with Sinead James went on.
‘His temperament was exacerbated by his use of controlled drugs, particularly amphetamine which he was taking during his relationship with Sinead James and whilst living in the family home.’
Bevan claimed Lola had two falls – the first fall when she fell from a bunk bed ladder in her room at night and the second in the morning when the dog pushed her down the stairs.
The court heard James claimed she heard a bang at midnight and found Bevan comforting Lola in her bedroom.
Mrs Rees said: ‘He told her Lola had hit her head. It is Sinead James’ case that she went back to sleep until she was woken by Kyle Bevan telling her Lola had fallen downstairs.’
The court heard Bevan took photos of Lola at 4:26am when she was conscious and upright with an injury to her back.
Mrs Rees said expert evidence showed her fatal head injury had not yet been inflicted at that time.
Those who had known Lola during her short life are said to have described her as a ‘happy, beautiful and busy little girl’.
‘Her life had barely started,’ Ms Rees said.
James, of Neyland, denies causing or allowing the death of a child. Bevan, of Aberystwyth, denies murder.
The trial, due to last four weeks, continues.
