Final moments of Kermani's life pieced together on CCTV
Snippets from the final hours of tragic Kermani Watson-Darby’s young life were shown to jurors at Birmingham Crown Court.
Alicia Watson, aged 30, of Raglan Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, and her boyfriend Nathaniel Pope, 31, of Evans Street, Wolverhampton, both deny murder and multiple charges of child cruelty.
Police officers have painstakingly pieced together a picture of the events which led up to the three-year-old’s death in West Bromwich.
Detectives have been using footage from cameras at the block of flats where the pair lived at Stanton House, and cameras around West Bromwich, which captured a trip to McDonald’s and the pharmacy.
At one point Kermani could be seen running ahead of his mother and also holding her hand as they walked home.
Earlier that day, June 5, 2018, Kermani was rushed in for assessment at a local walk-in centre after vomiting while he waited with his mother for an appointment.
Detective Constable Louise Dawber took the stand at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday and played a compilation of all the the different cameras to make a timeline for June 6.
She said she had identified Pope, who the court had previously heard used to lock Kermani in a room to calm him down, through his distinctive trainers.
Pope had not gone to McDonald’s but can be seen on the video from the flats as being at home before the attack, the jury was told.
Watson’s lawyers have painted her as a loving mother who made a massive mistake trusting her boyfriend Pope to be near Kermani.
The final section of the film shows paramedics arriving at the scene after Watson had called an ambulance for her son at 3.56pm.
They found his lifeless body in the flat with injuries which had as much trauma and force as a car crash.
Kermani’s father, Darren Darby, is due to give evidence again today after previously stating he believed Watson was too strict with his child and had been concerned about bruising and cuts on the toddler.
The trial continues.
