Kyrell Matthews was left with 41 fractures in his ribs and internal injuries until his death in October 2019, after weeks of cruelty at the hands of Kemar Brown and Phylesia Shirley, as Old Bailey heard in London. Brown, 28, was convicted of murder after a trial earlier this month, while Shirley, 24, who had previously worked in child services at Croydon’s council, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the alternate charge of manslaughter. intention. Jurors were unaware that Kyrell suffered a significant facial injury in May 2019, five months before his death, and spent five days at Croydon University Hospital. The hospital conducted an investigation and found that Shirley’s explanation that the little boy fell off the couch and hit his head on a chair was “reasonable.” In addition, jurors were not informed that police were called in for a domestic incident three months before Kyrell’s death, but no offenses were identified and the boy is said to have looked “safe and well”. A passer-by had alerted the police on July 17, 2019 after hearing voices and screams coming from their apartment, with a female voice saying: “Stop hitting my face.” The couple appeared side by side in the bench on Friday, as Brown was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison while Searley was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The infant, who was non-verbal, was heard crying and screaming in annoying audio files taken from Searley’s phone and played to jurors during the trial. Multiple recordings in the last weeks of his life drew the sound of Kyrell’s repeated beatings, with Brown, who has a lot of violence-related beliefs, saying “Shut up” and “You have to ruin the fun.” Another recording caught Shirley hitting her son and causing him to collapse in agony. Capturing the abuse in cell phone recordings has had similar cases in recent months. Sixteen-month-old Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, six, were killed as a result of physical abuse and, like Kyrell, both children were referred to social services. Attorney Edward Brown QC told jurors the mother had placed her relationship with Brown on top of her own child. The couple, who were unemployed at the time of Kyrell’s murder, were reportedly visited by social services at least once. “[Shirley] “She was willing to reject what should have been Kyrell’s maternal care in favor of the abuse of herself – his mother – and in favor of the abuse committed by a man who knew she was abusing her child,” the prosecutor told jurors. “The truth is that his death came when he was once again abused in this apartment, once again in a similar way, causing very similar injuries, except in this case it was much more serious, the abuse and the results were catastrophic. . ” In a call to 111 that took place after Kyrell collapsed at home on October 20, 2019, Shirley cried as a clinical counselor told her to use both hands and “push down quickly” and “do it.” ». Both defendants, from different addresses at Thornton Heath, refused to testify during the trial, but the court heard Brown’s defense that the injuries sustained were the result of incorrect advice from the operator on how to resuscitate Kyrell. Paying tribute to Kyrell out of court after the couple was convicted, his stepfather by his father, Christine Ernest, said he was “the most affectionate little boy, always smiling”.
