Did he complain of a headache prior to his fatal assault ?????
I think I missed that
Did they hit his head the day before too??
I'll just add all the quotes from the trial about his headache - since I have the trial blog currently open. Sorry the dates are not in order. Just want to add that I haven't read any corroborating evidence that he hit his head on the concrete outside, it seems to be based on ET's word and the defence barristers are running with it because both their clients whacked Arthur around the head -
"Ms Prior says Arthur woke up around
3am on June 16 complaining of a headache. She reminds Hughes he had fallen over and banged his head outside Catherine Milhench's home the previous day."
Living room footage is played showing Hughes go down to Arthur in the middle of the night.
Hughes says he 'can't remember' if he had a headache and he did not see him bang his head but had been told that he had.
Ms Prior puts it to him by that stage he ignored Arthur if he said he had a headache.
Hughes: "No."
Ms Prior states Arthur was 'screaming' at Catherine Milhench's home on the morning of June 16.
--
The court is played the footage from the
evening of June 15 which shows Tustin bend down and swipe her hand at the back of Arthur's head.
Tustin accepts at that moment she suspected Arthur may have had a headache and concussion from falling and hitting his head on the concrete earlier in the day.
Mr Richmond asks why she slapped him in the exact place she thought he was suffering pain.
Tustin: "At that point I didn't know the extent of it. I just thought he was being difficult. Looking back I can see more clearly he was ill and weak. In that situation I thought Arthur was being difficult. That behaviour was every single day.
"I didn't know how bad his head was hurting. I didn't know if he had a headache, I didn't see it. I accept I shouldn't have done these things."
Judge Wall asks Tustin to explain why she hit Arthur's head.
Tustin: "I don't know. I cant explain the reason why I did that."
--
The court is played living room footage from around
9pm on June 15. Tustin is in the room, she bends down and slaps Arthur to the back of the head.
Tustin explains to the court she thought Arthur was 'messing about taking the p*** walking into the kitchen'.
She adds: "Again seeing the footage it looks as if he's got a headache or ear ache, he's tilting his head to the side. I see he's clearly unsteady on his feet."
Tustin asks to take a quick toilet break.
When she returns Ms Prior asks her about her text message to Hughes where she said Arthur had '*advertiser censored*** himself on the floor'.
Tustin: "What we've all just watched, it doesn't look like Arthur intentionally *advertiser censored**** himself on the floor. It looks like he's unsteady and lost his balance."
--
Mon 15th
Ms Ellin moves on to Tustin's second interview which took place on June 19, last year, and lasted nearly two hours.
The officer asks if she was 'concerned' for Arthur. Tustin replied that she was, and that she had also been concerned about him
on the Monday when he was complaining about a headache but that 'Tom said it was nothing'.
--
Tustin turned to the events of
Tuesday, June 16. She recalled the first thing Arthur said was 'I've got a headache' but that Hughes' response was 'tough s***' because he had 'thrown himself around'.
--
15th -
Tustin said: "Arthur went to bed complaining about a headache. Tom didn't really care. I couldn't sleep, I'd had such a bad day. I was overthinking everything."
--
Tustin recalled her visit to her hairdresser Catherine Milhench's home on
June 15, last year.
She said as she walked to the taxi at around 10.15am Arthur 'threw himself on the floor head first and bashed his head'.
--
16th:
Ms Milhench says: "I was doing Emma's hair. I can't remember how it started. Tom was in there, he shut the door and Arthur started screaming. I turned around and said 'what's going on?'
"She said 'pressure pointing him'. I said 'pressure pointing?'. She said 'yeah because it hurts'.
--
15th:
She describes what happened when Hughes arrived at her home.
"He had him by the scruff of the neck and closed the door to the hallway so it was just the two of them in there. Calling him a little c*** and language."
Ms Milhench then tells the court what she saw outside as they left her home.
"I remember Arthur falling to the floor. None of them helped. He just collapsed and fell into the car."
Asked how Tustin and Hughes reacted she says: "All quite rushed. I just remember them rushing off pushing him into the car."
--
Part of the recording of the van conversation is played where Hughes said to Tustin he hit Arthur with a slipper.
Van recording - "Hughes: "I hit him with a slipper and he bashed his head off the door. I squeezed him."
cross-examination - "Hughes denies he actually did."
--
Hughes told the officer what happened when he arrived at the hairdresser's home. (
15th)
He said: "I had the slipper in my hand. He was facing the front door. I came in. When he was like 'I haven't done anything', I wish I put the slipper down. My next question would have been 'why have you tried to hit people?'. Basically I didn't give him a chance to explain himself.
"I had a story of what happened. He was telling me a different story. So I hit him with it, the bottom of it. After I calmed down I felt ashamed. I basically hit him with a weapon."
Hughes confirmed it 'took Arthur by surprise' and
he 'bashed his head' on part of the door.
He described the force he used as 'five-and-a-half to six out of 10'.
--
We move to
June 16. Mr Hankin reminds the court this is the day Arthur would later collapse from fatal injuries.
A living room clip at 3.07am shows Arthur wake up before Hughes comes into the room and then leaves.
Arthur woke up again shortly after 8.30am. Mr Hankin plays more footage and says: "Arthur wakes up and stands. He appears to be struggling to fold his duvet. He appears to be crying and struggling on his feet. He drags his duvet on the floor out of the living room."
--
15th
At 8.56pm Hughes left the home. Two minutes later Arthur walks into the living room. Mr Hankin says he appears to stumble and fall.
He tells the court: "
Emma Tustin smacks him to the head and pulls him up from the floor."
[...]
At 11.25pm Arthur appears to wake up. His arm moves as he rolls onto his back. Hughes enters the room wearing a dressing gown, before he makes his way into the kitchen.
After a few moments Tustin emerges from the hallway and walks into the kitchen. She then reappears on the camera and exits the room back to the hall. Hughes walks back into the kitchen.
He then comes back into the living room, bends down and appears to speak to Arthur before walking out to the hallway.
--
Sat 13th
He plays CCTV from 8.54am which he says shows Arthur picking up his duvet and carrying it to the hallway. The prosecutor points to his facial expression.
"It suggests he's in pain or struggling to pick up the duvet."
Mr Hankin describes the following six-minute living room clip, from 11.29am, before playing it to the court.
Tustin and Hughes can be seen walking back and forth in and out of the living room before Arthur appears to walk from the hallway to the kitchen following Hughes.
They then return to the living room. Arthur stands with his back to the camera.
Hughes bends down, puts his head close to Arthur's and slaps the side of his head. Arthur walks towards the hallway.
A few moments later Arthur appears in the living room again.
Tustin walks past him. As she does so Arthur appears to flinch and quickly take a step to his left. He is then seen walking towards the kitchen crying.
Arthur briefly walks back into the living room, still crying, before walking into the kitchen. He then walks through the living room into the hallway.
--
The expert states Arthur also had an 'isolated' nerve fibre injury in his brain which was caused
one or two days before the other head injuries.
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin turns to the cerebral vein thrombosis (CTV) -
blood clot - in Arthur's brain.
Dr du Plessis tells the court he had blood clots in the major brain vein, the sagittal sinus.
He says: "They show evidence of the body being able to respond to it, there must have been survival of a few days. They couldn't have occurred on June 16 they must have pre-dated it, probably between two to three days before.
"This has happened before he became critically unwell. They must have an explanation separate to what happened on the 16th."
Dr du Plessis puts the thrombosis down to a combination of
dehydration and raised sodium levels.
