A man who denies murdering his baby son was alleged to be a monster and a ticking time bomb as closing speeches to jurors in his trial got under way this afternoon.
Reece Kelly, 31, admits manslaughter and that he unlawfully killed four-month-old Dallas Kelly. The tot died from a traumatic brain injury on October 19 2021, four days after he was found unresponsive at the family’s terraced Workington home.
A post mortem revealed Dallas had also suffered five broken ribs, bleeds on the brain and spine, and serious eye injuries in the form of extensive retinal bleeding. There was further evidence of an additional rib fracture and brain bleed caused several weeks beforehand.
Kelly denies murder and is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. He refutes a claim by the prosecution that he intended to cause Dallas really serious harm by forceful and vigorous shaking. Kelly says he shook his son for seconds only when he wouldn’t stop crying, and insists he did not mean to hurt him.
Also on trial is Dallas’s mother, Georgia Wright, 23, of Workington. Wright denies causing or allowed Dallas’s death, prosecutors alleging that she knew the risks of leaving him in Kelly’s sole care while she went to work on October 15, but chose not to protect him.
Both Kelly and Wright also deny a charge alleging cruelty towards Dallas during his short life by failing to provide adequate parental supervision and care, failing to take him to medical appointments and exposing him to harmful substances.
During the past two weeks at Carlisle Crown Court, a jury of 10 men and two women in the trial have heard evidence which concluded late last week when Wright said from the witness box that she now thinks of Kelly as a monster.
Today, barrister Richard Littler KC gave a closing speech on behalf of the prosecution.
“The prosecution say at the beginning we agree with Georgia Wright about one thing and that is that Reece Kelly is a monster,” alleged Mr Littler. “Sadly for Georgia Wright, he was a monster and she knew or ought to have known he was a monster before October 15 2021. Any sober parent would have seen the problem with leaving Mr Kelly looking after (Dallas).”
Both defendants, said Mr Littler, were heavily addicted to opiate-based prescription medication and other illegal drugs. Both, at times, were physically and mentally disabled, either when feeling the effects of the drug itself or withdrawing from them.
“Debt and withdrawal led to domestic arguments, domestic violence and, inevitably, harm and neglect (to Dallas),” said Mr Littler.
“He was a ticking time bomb and he intended to cause really serious harm,” added the prosecutor, who alleged that Kelly had been responsible for deliberate, sustained violence.
“His drug use, his financial worries, his emotional state, meant that he was liable to explode into violence and he did just that when he shook Dallas for long enough to cause the catastrophic injuries,” Mr Littler told jurors having alleged: “This is murder, not manslaughter.”
Of Kelly and Wright, the prosecutor further alleged that drugs came first before child care.
Closing speeches from barristers on behalf of Kelly and Wright are due to take place later today and tomorrow.
Trial judge Mr Justice Dove will then sum up evidence in the case to jurors before they retire to consider their verdicts.
