Woman accused of Durham murder of son, three, admits hitting him with cane

A mother who denies murdering her three-year-old son has admitted hitting him with a garden cane hours before he collapsed and died, saying she was following the teachings of the Bible.

Christina Robinson, who is a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, had been watching a YouTube video which quoted scripture promoting the rod for correction.

When her toddler son Dwelaniyah was “messing about” with his food she decided to punish him with a bamboo cane from the garage that she used for plants.

Robinson, 30, was giving evidence at her trial at Newcastle crown court.

She denies causing a fatal injury to Dwelaniyah by violently shaking him at the family home in Ushaw Moor, Durham in November 2022.

Robinson is also accused of deliberately scalding him, causing severe burns to his legs and buttocks in the weeks before his death. The court has heard that she chose not to get any medical help for the burns, which would have caused terrible pain.

The court heard that on the day of her son’s death she was observing the sabbath of the religion she followed.

She said she had not been following it long, “but it’s more of a lifestyle than a religion”.

The court heard the Black Hebrew Israelites followed teachings of the Old and New Testament and the Apocrypha. They say they are a Tribe of Israel who were displaced to Africa then sold into slavery.

She was watching a video that mentioned using the cane for correction.

Jamie Hill KC, defending, asked what her son had done that needed to be disciplined, she replied: “He was messing about with his food, he was not eating.”

Robinson said she was a “complete beginner” and now realises she was misguided.

“Honestly, I thought I was doing the right thing. I was happy and eager to jump into something, it felt like I belonged, but I just got it wrong.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, I thought I was doing it right. I just really wanted to be obedient to God and I thought this was part of it.”

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC put it to Robinson that Dwelaniyah at this stage had more than 60 injuries to his body. “Did it occur to you he might not be that hungry with 15 to 20% of his body covered in burns? Did it occur to you that might put him off his food?”

The alleged offences took place when her husband was away from the family home on RAF basic training.

Robinson grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire, before her family relocated to Bulgaria when she was 16 because her mother wanted to be mortgage-free.

She returned to the UK when she was 23 and moved to the north-east of England to bring up a family with her husband.

Robinson said her husband did not want more children. She had four miscarriages. She told the court that she wanted to have a large family with “double figure” children.

Robinson originally told police that Dwelaniyah suffered his burns by messing about in the shower. That was a lie, she admitted. She scalded him when she was cleaning him using a shower head, the court heard.

She did not seek medical attention because she felt bad for what she had done and “ashamed”. Instead, the court heard, she gave him paracetamol and Calpol and bandaged him.

The trial continues.