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

[Tortoise]

Also, she stated earlier today that she stopped feeding Arthur from the end of may. She has now just admitted that she was still feeding him. Therefore her defence of “I couldn’t have administered salt as I no longer fed Arthur” will not stand.

Not to mention the numerous times she’s been caught on cctv giving Arthur his food on the blue plate.

Honestly, why she’s taken this to trial and why she’s taken the stand, I will never know.

Something else to bare in mind, look at how horrendous and invoking this case is to us, mere strangers on the internet. Arthur’s family are having to sit there and listen to this. I cannot imagine for a second what they’re going through right now, especially when they alerted the correct authorities with their concerns and were dismissed (and threatened with arrest). This whole case is the stuff of nightmares!

I haven't seen the quote where she said she stopped feeding him. Did you see that in a different report?

 

[Tortoise]

16:20SARAH PROBERT

'I didn't kill him' Tustin says

Tustin continues: "At that time I was not in a good place. I continued to go through the days. I was like a zombie. Completely switched off. It was allowed to happen. It wasn't like it was planned. Wasn't intended to get this far. It did."

Mr Hankin: "You mean kill him?"
Tustin: "I didn't kill him."
Mr Hankin puts it to Tustin she became 'increasingly hostile' to Arthur.
Tustin: "I just wanted a break. I wanted peace and quiet."
Mr Hankin: "Did it ever cross your mind to give Arthur a break?"
Tustin: "There was times clearly he needed a break. Again in that moment, living it, I was exhausted, not functioning properly. Just got through the days the best I could."
Mr Hankin: "Do you know what selfish means? Are you selfish?"
Tustin: "Doing what I have done. Yes I was selfish."

Murder accused branded 'pitiless, cruel woman' who 'hated' boy - updates

 

[Tortoise]

16:35SARAH PROBERT
Tustin asked why she was 'amused' by Hughes suggesting he bought a taser gun
Tustin denies she 'hated' Arthur. Mr Hankin asks her to read a text message she sent to Hughes which said: "F****** launch this little f***."

Asked what she meant Tustin says: "To push him or throw him. I didn't do that. It was just a message I sent. He (Arthur) was saying he had not had breakfast which he had.

"Tom was just ignoring him while he was upstairs."

Mr Hankin puts it to Tustin she was 'amused' at the prospect of Hughes purchasing a Taser gun.

Tustin explains she just replied with a 'smiley emoji' but did not see the message of the Taser picture properly at the time.

Murder accused branded 'pitiless, cruel woman' who 'hated' boy - updates

 

[Carroll520]

I haven't seen the quote where she said she stopped feeding him. Did you see that in a different report?

she said it in court yesterday or the day before, she said she told Tom, he is your kid, you feed him. I think she might have said she stopped feeding him at the start of June and let Tom take over. But she was prob just saying that as there was talk of the salt poisoning starting in June, shes sly!

 

[Dotta]

16:35SARAH PROBERT
Tustin asked why she was 'amused' by Hughes suggesting he bought a taser gun
Tustin denies she 'hated' Arthur. Mr Hankin asks her to read a text message she sent to Hughes which said: "F****** launch this little f***."

Asked what she meant Tustin says: "To push him or throw him. I didn't do that. It was just a message I sent. He (Arthur) was saying he had not had breakfast which he had.

"Tom was just ignoring him while he was upstairs."

Mr Hankin puts it to Tustin she was 'amused' at the prospect of Hughes purchasing a Taser gun.

Tustin explains she just replied with a 'smiley emoji' but did not see the message of the Taser picture properly at the time.

Murder accused branded 'pitiless, cruel woman' who 'hated' boy - updates

She is so vulgar!
I hate it when women curse.
What did her kids think?
What a shame!!!

 

[Mellowmelly]

I wish trials were televised here like they are in the USA.

 

[Tortoise]

16:45SARAH PROBERT
Tustin said she cannot justify why she called Arthur names
Mr Hankin asks about a message Tustin said saying 'I'm going to chin this little c*** telling me he wants his breakfast right now, little idiot man'.

Tustin says she never said those words to Arthur's face and was merely 'venting in text messages'.

Mr Hankin refers to the previous evidence of Catherine Milhench (Affy) who said it was 'common' for Tustin to call Arthur a c*** to his face while at her home.
Tustin: "I was talking to Affy in the kitchen and I called him a little c*** to her, but not to his face. I called him a little s*** and little f*****."
She confirms the latter phrases were to Arthur's face. Mr Hankin asks why she used such language. Tustin: "I can't justify an answer."


16:46SARAH PROBERT
The trial is adjourned until Monday.
The trial has now adjourned for the day. Join us on Monday when we will bring you more updates.


Murder accused branded 'pitiless, cruel woman' who 'hated' boy - updates

 

[Mellowmelly]

I have no doubt whatsoever that she will be found guilty on all charges. I hope she gets the harshest sentence possible. She has practically admitted to everything minus the salt and the murder. Add to that, she’s been seen with salt on cctv and she was the only person with Arthur when his murder occurred.

If we also take into account, her lack of compassion, her utter disdain, her elaborate lies being exposed, as well as her repeatedly drumming it home how she “couldn’t be bothered”. There is a hell of a lot of aggravating factors, nothing at all to mitigate.

I genuinely cannot believe what I am reading right now.

I really hope so, wicked woman, not an ounce of compassion for poor Authur, even though she was carrying his future sibling at the time. She was the ring leader and I'm not surprised to learn that she has a personality disorder either, perhaps borderline ?

 

[Tinksx]

I haven't seen the quote where she said she stopped feeding him. Did you see that in a different report?

Day 24. The last entry on the Birmingham mail. I have no clue how to link but I have screenshot it.

 

[Tortoise]

she said it in court yesterday or the day before, she said she told Tom, he is your kid, you feed him. I think she might have said she stopped feeding him at the start of June and let Tom take over. But she was prob just saying that as there was talk of the salt poisoning starting in June, shes sly!

Was it this part?

She tells the court Arthur started picking at his food by the end of May and then it got to the point he started spitting it out. Tustin confirms she sent Hughes a message saying: 'I don't think I can do this anymore' and that she referred to Arthur as 'malicious, cruel and just plain awful'.

Ms Prior asks if that's how she felt at that time. Tustin says:

At that time I did. Just with the way he would cry and stop when Tom came in. Things he said to my children.

I'm ashamed and I can't say anything more than that. There was a hell of a lot more to it. The reason he was acting like that. At that time I couldn't see it."

 

[Kokopie]

I hope they completely annihilate her. I’ve followed each day and it is clear to see what an evil and calculated human being she is. I just pray the jury see through her.

Something I picked up on a week or two back. The step dad claims he contacted social services over Arthur’s treatment. Yet it was also said a little bit later that mum and step dad banned Arthur from their home because of his treatment towards the grandkids and ET. Now if you had concerns about TH treatment of him, the last thing you’d do is ban him from your home. Any normal and decent human being wouldn’t isolate a six year old, they’d want eyes on him to make sure he was ok if they had such concerns about TH treatment of him. ET made sure to poison them against him also and yet isolate him further.

evil beyond comprehension

 

[Dotta]

TH didn't have luck with women.
Both his love interests turned out to be murderers!

 

[Tortoise]

Day 24. The last entry on the Birmingham mail. I have no clue how to link but I have screenshot it.

Thanks so much.

She said she stopped feeding him after the first week of June. I'm not sure when that clip they played today was recorded, where she said "I was still feeding him".

 

[Tinksx]

Thanks so much.

She said she stopped feeding him after the first week of June. I'm not sure when that clip they played today was recorded, where she said "I was still feeding him".

No problem. I knew I had seen it somewhere but my brain went absolutely blank for a bit there!

You are correct, we can’t be certain when that clip was taken, it may have been weeks prior. It’s the job of the prosecution to come at this in a disjointed kind of way, a clear concise timeline is what her defence use as it’s easier for her to keep to a story. Unrelated incidents hashed out in a random manner will always trip up a liar and I believe that is the tactic the prosecution is using at the minute.

It’s by the by, because we have her on day 24 stating she stopped feeding arthur after the first week of june. We have cctv evidence of her taking out food to him over the 4 days leading up to his death. She has massively contradicted herself throughout this entire trial and I can only hope that members on that jury have picked up these same nuances we all have here.

 

[Tortoise]

Physical abuse aside, I can't even imagine receiving texts off a new partner (or any partner!) referring to my kids in such derogatory terms, let alone endorsing them saying it to their faces. That verbal abuse would be the first and last boundary they crossed. It's disrespectful of Hughes as his father too. It's more than using bad language around the kids, it's the implication that the child is an object of hate.

 

[Chessgirl]

I wish trials were televised here like they are in the USA.

Yeah I’m from the US and was surprised I couldn’t find anything live of the trial.

I really hope so, wicked woman, not an ounce of compassion for poor Authur, even though she was carrying his future sibling at the time. She was the ring leader and I'm not surprised to learn that she has a personality disorder either, perhaps borderline ?

i don’t think it is borderline, as people with borderline are capable of possessing empathy and compassion. They can act cruel when triggered, but they feel remorseful afterwards. Whatever Emma has must be something that lacks all empathy, such as narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder.

 

[Chessgirl]

Physical abuse aside, I can't even imagine receiving texts off a new partner (or any partner!) referring to my kids in such derogatory terms, let alone endorsing them saying it to their faces. That verbal abuse would be the first and last boundary they crossed. It's disrespectful of Hughes as his father too. It's more than using bad language around the kids, it's the implication that the child is an object of hate.

I know. I’m actually in a support group for survivors of child abuse and most of us agree that while physical abuse is traumatic, it’s the emotional and verbal abuse that really does the most damage long term. She crushed that little boy emotionally. He would have needed therapy for the rest of his life had he survived.

 

[Noseyjosie]

Yeah I’m from the US and was surprised I couldn’t find anything live of the trial.

i don’t think it is borderline, as people with borderline are capable of possessing empathy and compassion. They can act cruel when triggered, but they feel remorseful afterwards. Whatever Emma has must be something that lacks all empathy, such as narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder.

I agree. My ex is a narcissist and he has no empathy, is a compulsive liar, self pitying etc. The way Tustin has reacted to certain questions has felt like deja vu

 

[Tinksx]

Physical abuse aside, I can't even imagine receiving texts off a new partner (or any partner!) referring to my kids in such derogatory terms, let alone endorsing them saying it to their faces. That verbal abuse would be the first and last boundary they crossed. It's disrespectful of Hughes as his father too. It's more than using bad language around the kids, it's the implication that the child is an object of hate.

I cannot get my head around this either? It’s like a pack mentality but against a child? The only thing these two seemed to bond over was how awful Arthur was and how they were going to punish him. It seems like their entire relationship was purely derived from taking pleasure from torturing that child - psychologically, emotionally, verbally and physically.

 

[Chessgirl]

I agree. My ex is a narcissist and he has no empathy, is a compulsive liar, self pitying etc. The way Tustin has reacted to certain questions has felt like deja vu

Right! Yeah... from my own experiences... she is the epitome of a narcissist.