UK - Arthur Labinjo Hughes, 6, killed, dad & friend arrested, June 2020

[Tortoise]

16:19TONY LARNER
Tustin quizzed about June 16
Mr Richmond moves on to the events of June 16.

He presses Tustin on her claim that Hughes was alone with Arthur in the bathroom between 1pm and 1.10pm.

The barrister puts it to Tustin she has never mentioned that previously and is now 'using that window to your advantage' after listening to the evidence in relation to Arthur's alleged salt poisoning.

Tustin states she was not asked about it previously, adding she was only asked to account for her own whereabouts at that time following a recent report from one of the expert medical witnesses concerning the salt findings.

Mr Richmond interjects.

Judge Wall explains that conversations between Tustin and her legal team are 'privileged' and should remain confidential. He reminds her to speak only of what she can remember.

Mr Richmond asks Tustin why she did not take videos of Arthur acting 'bizarre' and banging his head on June 16 - like she had done for previous incidents.

Tustin: "His dad wasn't interested. He didn't listen to the voice notes and recordings. It just seemed he wouldn't listen to a video."

Mr Richmond: "You weren't taking photographs because you knew full well you were going completely over the top with him."

Tustin: "No."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Tortoise]

16:33KEY EVENT
'Clearly Arthur is already dead'
Mr Richmond asks the footage of the events leading up to Arthur's collapse to be replayed.

He points to the period of '30 to 40 seconds' where Arthur is seen lying motionless on the floor 'close to death' and says: "During that time all you have done is wander around and looked for your phone."

Tustin: "I didn't know what to do in that situation. It isn't a situation I would wish on anybody. I didn't know how to act. I already said I thought he knocked himself out.

"Clearly Arthur is already dead. While in that situation I didn't know what to do. I was panicking inside. I didn't even know my own children witnessed it."

Mr Richmond: "You have reviewed the CCTV and tried to make your account fit into it."

Tustin: "That's not what I have done, no."


16:35TONY LARNER
'I didn't know he was dead'
Tustin breaks down again to which Mr Richmond asks: "Who are you crying for now?"

Tustin: "Crying because the state Arthur was in. He's dead at that point, well pretty much. Breathing and had a pulse.

"I didn't know he was dead. I didn't leave him intentionally. If that wasn't enough it wasn't enough."

Mr Richmond puts it to her she was 'running around chaotically' thinking of the best position to put Arthur in to explain to Hughes what had happened.

Tustin states she put Arthur on the sofa to get him a drink.

Mr Richmond: "You are thinking about the same person you have been thinking about from start to finish, yourself."

Tustin: "No."

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow morning.


Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[nothinonyou]

how did she abort her own baby in custody?!
this woman is sick, sick in the head. Everything is all "poor me I've had such a hard life, Tom is the real piece of *advertiser censored* here!" She described him as "throwing his arms up in the air like the Hulk". I have to laugh at that image, she's really trying to portray him as an absolute headcase with rage issues. Pretending she was afraid of him! Sorry but someone who jumps off a 6th floor building and aborts their own baby isn't afraid of much!
I think she was the real instigator here, Arthur had no problems until she came on the scene. I think she hated him and Hughes started resenting him too to please Princess Tustin.
And I agree, it sounds like a House of Horrors, everyone self-harming, beating each other, calling each other c***, breaking doors off hinges. Those surviving children may never fully psychologically recover.

 

[Chessgirl]

I agree. I think she was the one behind it all as well. I grew up with a narcissistic mother who would frequently turn my father against me and anyone else who she was jealous of. It happens more often than most think. Like you said, Arthur and his father had no problems until she came into the scene.

how did she abort her own baby in custody?!
this woman is sick, sick in the head. Everything is all "poor me I've had such a hard life, Tom is the real piece of **** here!" She described him as "throwing his arms up in the air like the Hulk". I have to laugh at that image, she's really trying to portray him as an absolute headcase with rage issues. Pretending she was afraid of him! Sorry but someone who jumps off a 6th floor building and aborts their own baby isn't afraid of much!
I think she was the real instigator here, Arthur had no problems until she came on the scene. I think she hated him and Hughes started resenting him too to please Princess Tustin.
And I agree, it sounds like a House of Horrors, everyone self-harming, beating each other, calling each other c***, breaking doors off hinges. Those surviving children may never fully psychologically recover.

 

[Kasmeer]

I'm seeing comments that people "don't believe a word she says" - I think that it's a mistake to discount everything; liars usually base their stories in truth so it's easier to maintain the fiction. Some of what she says seems quite likely to be true, albeit through a strongly biased filter, carefully omitting her own role; so we should look at it closely, to find the grains of truth which build a picture of what actually happened.

Hughes being violent? Well we know how cruel he was to his own son, so yes, I believe most if not all the incidents involving him actually happened, and indeed, if he's capable of such violence to his own son, why not to his girlfriend as well? That's plausible, certainly, and I would in fact believe much of what she says when considering his case (while somewhat doubting that she sat there passively and didn't contribute a fair amount of the drama). That doesn't mean I diminish her role in any way; but it certainly adds weight to his part in everything.

Arthur "throwing himself into things"; sounds to me like a nasty interpretation of Arthur being too weak to be able to keep his balance well, so tripping and falling into things a lot. Makes a lot of sense to me, many of those incidents are probably true, just not in the way she means.


Quoting from Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

"She says: "I was upstairs doing my eyebrows. My bedroom door doesn't shut properly. I think Arthur thought it was shut. At that point he threw himself up against the door.

"The door bounced into the bedroom. The dressing room table was there. The door came back on him and hit his face.""

That sounds detailed enough to have some basis in truth, lets reinterpret it as "I slammed the door in his face" and there we have the cause of some of his injuries...

"She tells the court at 2.32pm Tustin sent a text to Hughes saying: "Just copped me in the stomach. Thrown himself all over the floor. Won't get up for s***. I've shut the door on him.""

That text almost admits it, if we interpret it that way (I previously read it as "I shut the door so I can't see him" but it could be read both ways).


I repeat that this doesn't mean I believe everything (there is no way she is as innocent or naive as she portrays herself; the facts speak for themselves as to who dealt the fatal blows), nor have sympathy for her, just that there is very likely to be some truth in her testimony, so it's worth not discounting all of it.

 

[Dotta]

16:33KEY EVENT
'Clearly Arthur is already dead'
Mr Richmond asks the footage of the events leading up to Arthur's collapse to be replayed.

He points to the period of '30 to 40 seconds' where Arthur is seen lying motionless on the floor 'close to death' and says: "During that time all you have done is wander around and looked for your phone."

Tustin: "I didn't know what to do in that situation. It isn't a situation I would wish on anybody. I didn't know how to act. I already said I thought he knocked himself out.

"Clearly Arthur is already dead. While in that situation I didn't know what to do. I was panicking inside. I didn't even know my own children witnessed it."

Mr Richmond: "You have reviewed the CCTV and tried to make your account fit into it."

Tustin: "That's not what I have done, no."


16:35TONY LARNER
'I didn't know he was dead'
Tustin breaks down again to which Mr Richmond asks: "Who are you crying for now?"

Tustin: "Crying because the state Arthur was in. He's dead at that point, well pretty much. Breathing and had a pulse.

"I didn't know he was dead. I didn't leave him intentionally. If that wasn't enough it wasn't enough."

Mr Richmond puts it to her she was 'running around chaotically' thinking of the best position to put Arthur in to explain to Hughes what had happened.

Tustin states she put Arthur on the sofa to get him a drink.

Mr Richmond: "You are thinking about the same person you have been thinking about from start to finish, yourself."

Tustin: "No."

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow morning.


Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

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[Chessgirl]

I am sure there is a little truth mixed in with all the lies. It is hard to tell with a compulsive liar like that.

I'm seeing comments that people "don't believe a word she says" - I think that it's a mistake to discount everything; liars usually base their stories in truth so it's easier to maintain the fiction. Some of what she says seems quite likely to be true, albeit through a strongly biased filter, carefully omitting her own role; so we should look at it closely, to find the grains of truth which build a picture of what actually happened.

Hughes being violent? Well we know how cruel he was to his own son, so yes, I believe most if not all the incidents involving him actually happened, and indeed, if he's capable of such violence to his own son, why not to his girlfriend as well? That's plausible, certainly, and I would in fact believe much of what she says when considering his case (while somewhat doubting that she sat there passively and didn't contribute a fair amount of the drama). That doesn't mean I diminish her role in any way; but it certainly adds weight to his part in everything.

Arthur "throwing himself into things"; sounds to me like a nasty interpretation of Arthur being too weak to be able to keep his balance well, so tripping and falling into things a lot. Makes a lot of sense to me, many of those incidents are probably true, just not in the way she means.


Quoting from Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

"She says: "I was upstairs doing my eyebrows. My bedroom door doesn't shut properly. I think Arthur thought it was shut. At that point he threw himself up against the door.

"The door bounced into the bedroom. The dressing room table was there. The door came back on him and hit his face.""

That sounds detailed enough to have some basis in truth, lets reinterpret it as "I slammed the door in his face" and there we have the cause of some of his injuries...

"She tells the court at 2.32pm Tustin sent a text to Hughes saying: "Just copped me in the stomach. Thrown himself all over the floor. Won't get up for s***. I've shut the door on him.""

That text almost admits it, if we interpret it that way (I previously read it as "I shut the door so I can't see him" but it could be read both ways).


I repeat that this doesn't mean I believe everything (there is no way she is as innocent or naive as she portrays herself; the facts speak for themselves as to who dealt the fatal blows), nor have sympathy for her, just that there is very likely to be some truth in her testimony, so it's worth not discounting all of it.

 

[Dotta]

I'm seeing comments that people "don't believe a word she says" - I think that it's a mistake to discount everything; liars usually base their stories in truth so it's easier to maintain the fiction. Some of what she says seems quite likely to be true, albeit through a strongly biased filter, carefully omitting her own role; so we should look at it closely, to find the grains of truth which build a picture of what actually happened.

Hughes being violent? Well we know how cruel he was to his own son, so yes, I believe most if not all the incidents involving him actually happened, and indeed, if he's capable of such violence to his own son, why not to his girlfriend as well? That's plausible, certainly, and I would in fact believe much of what she says when considering his case (while somewhat doubting that she sat there passively and didn't contribute a fair amount of the drama). That doesn't mean I diminish her role in any way; but it certainly adds weight to his part in everything.

Arthur "throwing himself into things"; sounds to me like a nasty interpretation of Arthur being too weak to be able to keep his balance well, so tripping and falling into things a lot. Makes a lot of sense to me, many of those incidents are probably true, just not in the way she means.


Quoting from Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

"She says: "I was upstairs doing my eyebrows. My bedroom door doesn't shut properly. I think Arthur thought it was shut. At that point he threw himself up against the door.

"The door bounced into the bedroom. The dressing room table was there. The door came back on him and hit his face.""

That sounds detailed enough to have some basis in truth, lets reinterpret it as "I slammed the door in his face" and there we have the cause of some of his injuries...

"She tells the court at 2.32pm Tustin sent a text to Hughes saying: "Just copped me in the stomach. Thrown himself all over the floor. Won't get up for s***. I've shut the door on him.""

That text almost admits it, if we interpret it that way (I previously read it as "I shut the door so I can't see him" but it could be read both ways).


I repeat that this doesn't mean I believe everything (there is no way she is as innocent or naive as she portrays herself; the facts speak for themselves as to who dealt the fatal blows), nor have sympathy for her, just that there is very likely to be some truth in her testimony, so it's worth not discounting all of it.

I think she is mentally unbalanced.
She said she was pregnant with TH 3!!!! times - does it mean she had abortions 3 times???
Didnt they hear about contraception?

Well, she tried to commit suicide by jumping from the 6th floor.
It says everything about her state of mind to me.
Did she get psychiatric help??

As for the boy banging into things - kids and even adults are known to bang their heads against walls when in extreme distress.

It is a kind of self harming - physical pain is preferable to mental anguish.

 

[Sooty]

‘Thrown himself’, ‘throwing himself’ ‘up the doors’ ‘up the walls’ ‘up the radiator’ ‘all over the floor’. I have never heard this sort of description before. To me, a child can’t throw himself up something. I have heard descriptions from other parents of children ‘head banging’ things, or ‘bumping into things’ or ‘hitting up against something’. To me when she is using language like ‘throwing himself…..’ I interpret it as ‘I threw him/ I pushed him ….’. It’s a bullying thing, to then say ‘look what you did, you threw yourself up the wall’. The poor child was weak - couldn’t climb the stairs, couldn’t stand up - she was the one doing the throwing, for sure.

 

[Ironside]

how did she abort her own baby in custody?!

I would imagine that it was done by a doctor upon request. The limit is 24 weeks. Had she done it to herself in prison she likely would have mentioned that for extra pity.

I hope the prosecutor asks her why she sent texts to Hughes when Arthur was in hospital and failed to ask how the kid was doing.

 

[nothinonyou]

I would imagine that it was done by a doctor upon request. The limit is 24 weeks. Had she done it to herself in prison she likely would have mentioned that for extra pity.

I hope the prosecutor asks her why she sent texts to Hughes when Arthur was in hospital and failed to ask how the kid was doing.

ok, I thought it meant she literally aborted it all on her own in her cell... This woman seems to go through children like I go through socks

 

[Smkd]

So what I don’t get is, there are many videos and voice notes they sent each other of Arthur crying, pleading etc. Considering that according to Emma Tustin he would throw himself around and bang his head everywhere on a daily basis, are there no videos of this happening? Have I missed it?

 

[Tortoise]

11:55JAMES CARTLEDGE
The trial has resumed for day 26
Good morning.

After a delayed start the trial resumes for the 26th day.

Emma Tustin is in the witness box. Hughes' barrister Bernard Richmond picks up with his cross-examination.


Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Tortoise]

So what I don’t get is, there are many videos and voice notes they sent each other of Arthur crying, pleading etc. Considering that according to Emma Tustin he would throw himself around and bang his head everywhere on a daily basis, are there no videos of this happening? Have I missed it?

There are no videos of that.

Just as prosecution said yesterday that the only admissions Tustin made to physically hurting Arthur related to 3 events that were captured on the living room camera. The camera was only in the living room a total of 4 days before he died! And he spent his waking hours in the hall so the only times he was in the living room appears to be as he was allowed in there late in the evening to set up his bed on the floor and waking up and leaving the room next morning.

 

[Tortoise]

12:15JAMES CARTLEDGE
Tustin says she has 'faced up to what she has done'
Mr Richmond asks Tustin if she has reflected on the evidence, in particular if she was in the hallway when Arthur 'cracked' his head on the floor.

Tustin: "No."

She adds: "I was not there when he banged his head. I only heard it. I don't know where I was. On the CCTV I was in and out. I can't remember every detail about what happened. A lot has happened. I could have possibly been upstairs.

"I heard what I heard. I don't know where I was. Looking at the evidence, it's just the timings"

Mr Richmond: "Is it that you just can't face up to what you have done?"

Tustin: "No I have faced up to what I have done as you well know. I'm not willing to face up to what I have not done."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

BBM Stroppy!

 

[Tortoise]

12:19KEY EVENT
'I would not kill a child, I would not poison a child'
Mr Richmond reminds Tustin that it is 'agreed' by all the medical experts that the mechanism that caused Arthur's fatal injuries was hyperextension of the neck with one or more blunt force impacts on an object.

Tustin: "Yes not necessarily by anyone else."

Mr Richmond states the hyperextension could not have been caused by a falling mechanism.

Tustin: "They said it was shaking but I know I didn't shake Arthur."

Mr Richmond: "Arthur can't have caused himself that vigorous shaking to himself."

Tustin: "I didn't shake him. I picked him up. I know I didn't shake him. I have never shaken a child before. I am not willing to say I have shaken him when I know I haven't."

Mr Richmond asks if she accepts the collective view of the medical experts regarding the mechanism which caused Arthur's injuries, and the opinion he could not have caused them himself.

Tustin: "I accept what they said but it's not the first time doctors would be wrong, it won't be the last. This case was not murder. Murder was not committed. I did pick him up. I would not kill a child. I would not poison a child."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Tortoise]

12:28JAMES CARTLEDGE
Tustin again insists she didn't shake Arthur
Mr Richmond repeats the medical consensus that Arthur was shaken, which has been accepted by Tustin's barrister.

Tustin: "I didn't have a choice but to agree with what they said. The medical experts all agreed. But it's not true."

Mr Richmond states she did have a choice.

Tustin: "I did but it wouldn't have got me anywhere. It is not the truth. They weren't there. I didn't shake him, only picked him off the floor numerous times."

She accepts no-one else was in the house at the time.

Mr Richmond: "The only person capable of doing that is you."

Tustin: "It is not true because I didn't do it."

Mr Richmond: "That's your approach to all of this case isn't it, you didn't do anything?"

Tustin: "No I accept what I have done."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Tortoise]

12:39JAMES CARTLEDGE
Tustin has told 'many lies', barrister tells jury
Mr Richmond says Tustin has 'told many lies' to the jury including the notion she has only spent six hours reading the case papers.

Tustin reples: "I haven't. I'm not a liar."

She also denies she got her 'own way' in the relationship with Hughes and says it only resulted in 'trouble' that she did not need to take on.

Mr Richmond turns to the events of earlier in the day on June 16, 2020. He asks about the incident upstairs when Arthur allegedly 'threw himself' up the children's bedroom wall, the floor and then Tustin's bedroom door.

The barrister refers to the photograph she took of Arthur with a red mark on his face.

Mr Richmond: "You were worried what you did to him already caused him bruises."

Tustin: "What is it you think I did to him?"

Mr Richmond: "Hitting him and pushing him up walls."

Tustin: "No I had not."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Tortoise]

12:47JAMES CARTLEDGE
Court shown Tustin holding Arthur by the back of his clothes
The court is played living room footage from around 2.15pm on June 16. It shows Tustin walk Arthur into the kitchen and then back to the hallway. She is holding him by the clothes at the back of the neck.

Mr Richmond asks Tustin to explain what she did.

Tustin: "I held Arthur by the back of his clothes, picked him up and put him in the hallway. When Arthur came out of the kitchen he was on unsteady legs. I thought he was being naughty. I know that wasn't the case now"

Mr Richmond: "You're squeezing the clothes up so they were really tight around his neck."

Tustin: "No. I held him at the back of his clothes. That's not what I did."

Girlfriend accused of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes murder takes the stand

 

[Noseyjosie]

DBM