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

[Tortoise]

15:22TONY LARNER
'I have no self worth'
Judge Wall raises a question from a juror.

He asks why Tustin took Hughes back in April if she was unhappy in the relationship due to Arthur's behaviour.

Tustin: "Because I'm stupid and I have no self worth. I knew it was the right thing to be alone.

"I have a personality disorder which also affects that. I would rather be in an unhealthy relationship than be by myself. I did allow him back. I thought it would get better. It got worse. I continued with that relationship."


15:25TONY LARNER
'You knew how to press Shane's buttons'
Mr Richmond presses Tustin on the incident in April between Arthur and her son, when it is alleged Hughes elbowed her son in the head.

Tustin confirms she did not see Hughes elbow her son, but that she saw a mark on her son's head and took into account what her son told her.

Mr Richmond questions Tustin on her decision to call her ex-partner Shane Hawkins.

Tustin: "I alerted him to what happened to one of his children. He had the right to know what happened to his son."

Mr Richmond: "You were prepared to use a man who you could control to do your bidding."

Tustin denies she ever controlled Mr Hawkins during or after their relationship.

Mr Richmond: "You knew how to press Shane's buttons."

Tustin: "We knew how to push each other's buttons but this wasn't one of those occasions."


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Tortoise]

15:34KEY EVENT
Jury requests minute's silence for Arthur
Judge Wall states a jury member has requested a minute's silence for Arthur at the end of today's hearing.

He says: "I understand why that request comes today on Armistice Day when our thoughts turn to a moment's silence for those who have passed. I don't feel it is the appropriate time to do it while we are concentrating on the evidence and the issues which have arisen in this case.

"I see no difficulty at all, neither would counsel, if at the conclusion of this case when you have returned your verdicts whatever they may be, to mark Arthur's passing at that stage. I am happy to do that.

"I am sure the request was made as a profound sign of respect for Arthur's life. Equally I am sure any emotional response to Arthur's death will not deter you from your dispassionate review of the evidence in this case."

Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Tortoise]

15:51TONY LARNER
Tustin says she is 'not a violent person'
Tustin accepts the language in her house was 'very fruity' and that she and Hughes shared 'dark humour'.

Mr Richmond states he does not suggest the description of Arthur as 'Satan' is anything other than a joke.

Tustin agrees.

Mr Richmond asks a number of questions about her state of mind at the time.

Tustin accepts she suffers depression and anxiety but denies she is obsessive, with the exception of things being 'clean and in the right place'.

Tustin agrees she can be paranoid and inflexible but denies she is irritable and impatient. She also denies she has a temper.

Mr Richmond highlights the incident where she 'whacked Arthur around the head for no reason'.

Tustin accepts she did that, but says she is 'not a violent person'.

Mr Richmond: "Was Arthur your frustration bag?"

Tustin: "No he was not."


15:53TONY LARNER
Tustin asked about 'advice' she gave to Hughes
Mr Richmond moves on to May 2020. He asks Tustin about the 'advice' she gave Hughes.

Tustin says she told Hughes to 'stick by rules' and not change them because he 'couldn't be bothered' to enforce them.

Mr Richmond puts it to her Hughes was trying to be 'flexible' and 'find ways to deal with Arthur'.

Tustin: "He didn't do those things, no."

Mr Richmond: "You were getting more and more frustrated he wasn't following the rules you wanted imposed."

Tustin denies she wanted the rules imposed and states she thought Hughes was trying to get support from the school.


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Tortoise]

16:10TONY LARNER
'I felt upset like I was going to be alone'
Tustin confirms she thought Arthur 'hated' her and her children.

Mr Richmond asks her how old she was at this time. Tustin says '31'.

Mr Richmond: "You were getting worked up that this six-year-old child had got this malicious intention?"

Tustin: "That's the way I am, that's the mental health issues I have."

She confirms she stopped taking her medication because she did not want to be 'dependent' on it. Tustin cannot recall exactly when she came off it.

Mr Richmond asks about a text exchange where she said Arthur had 'won' because Hughes was 'going to go back to your mom's'.

Tustin: "Tom told Arthur he was going to his nan's, that's why Arthur was happy to leave. I felt upset like I was going to be alone and that scared me."

Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Dotta]

16:10TONY LARNER
'I felt upset like I was going to be alone'
Tustin confirms she thought Arthur 'hated' her and her children.

Mr Richmond asks her how old she was at this time. Tustin says '31'.

Mr Richmond: "You were getting worked up that this six-year-old child had got this malicious intention?"

Tustin: "That's the way I am, that's the mental health issues I have."

She confirms she stopped taking her medication because she did not want to be 'dependent' on it. Tustin cannot recall exactly when she came off it.

Mr Richmond asks about a text exchange where she said Arthur had 'won' because Hughes was 'going to go back to your mom's'.

Tustin: "Tom told Arthur he was going to his nan's, that's why Arthur was happy to leave. I felt upset like I was going to be alone and that scared me."

Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

She stopped taking her medication.

No comment.

 

[Noseyjosie]

I wouldn't be surprised if the social worker saw the wrong child with no bruises on his back.

Yes I thought this too. It doesn't seem plausible that the large bruises would have vanished in the time frame

 

[Tortoise]

16:21TONY LARNER
Tustin says it was a 'thinking step' and not 'naughty step'
Mr Richmond asks Tustin if she was 'in charge' of how long Arthur spent on the thinking step when Hughes was out.

Tustin: "Tom left me his rules. I didn't make up the rules."

Mr Richmond tells Tustin she was an 'enthusiastic user of the naughty step'.

Tustin denies it is a 'naughty step' and states it was a 'thinking step'.

16:24TONY LARNER
'I didn't want him in my home'
"If you call it a naughty step they won't think about their actions, you are already writing them off," she adds.

Mr Richmond: "That's what you had done by May and June, you had written him off."

Tustin: "I had given up a bit, yes. Not so much in May, in June, yes. I did turn away from him. I was stressed. I did write him off a bit, yes. I didn't want him in my home. I wanted him back at his nan's.

"I was scared of being on my own. It was a horrible situation to write a child off."


16:26TONY LARNER
'I didn't see those reasons at the time'
Tustin tells the court she felt she was in a 'vicious circle, a trap'.

Mr Richmond: "In a vicious circle, a trap, something had to give didn't it?"

Tustin: "In this situation it didn't."

Mr Richmond: "Well it did, didn't it?"

Tustin: "It did but not by me. Arthur died."

Mr Richmond asks Tustin once again if she really thought a six-year-old boy was 'capable of concepts of hate'.

Tustin: "I don't know. I did feel like it was hate. Stepping back and not being in the situation, looking from the outside there was reasons he behaved in that way and reasons why the hate, whether it was what a six-year-old boy or an adult would think, reasons why the hate was there.

"I didn't see those reasons at the time."


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Noseyjosie]

13:29JAMES CARTLEDGE
Tustin accepts she engaged in a 'random act of cruelty' against Arthur
The footage of Tustin pulling the blanket from underneath Arthur shortly after 7am on June 15 is replayed.

Tustin confirms she understood Arthur to be asleep at the time.

Mr Richmond: "That was an unpleasant, cruel thing to do to a child designed to shock them and make them feel immediately uncomfortable and immediately anxious."

Tustin: "Yes. I didn't think about it when I did it. I acted without thinking."

She accepts if Hughes had done the same thing to her children it would have caused an argument.

Asked how many times she had woken Arthur up in that way Tustin replies: "No more than twice."

Mr Richmond: "Yet again you are engaging in a random act of cruelty to this child."

Tustin: "Yes I did."

Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

Didn't she say previously that she believed Arthur to be awake and she'd been shouting at him, from out of the room, to pick his blanket up?
She's beginning to tie herself in knots here

 

[Tortoise]

16:33KEY EVENT
'Threatening to set my children on fire is evil'
Mr Richmond: "At the time you thought this six-year-old boy was capable of hatred, threatening to murder, threatening to set things on fire, you must have thought this child was evil?"

Tustin: "I did. Threatening to set my children on fire is evil, threatening to drop my tortoise from a height where he died, that's evil, threatening to stab my children in their sleep so I had to hide the knives, that's evil."

Mr Richmond asks Tustin if her mental health issues at the time made her evil.

Tustin: "No, the situation wasn't helping. I was isolated, didn't speak to my friends because Tom didn't like them. I wasn't seeing my family.

"In the house day in, day out, while Tom was out gallivanting. I was left with the screaming and shouting.

"My mental health wasn't great but the situation added to this."


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Tortoise]

I've only just realised it's Hughes' barrister cross-examining Tustin, not the prosecution. I will now have to read back over the last two days to see what slant he's putting on the questions. So we still have the prosecution's cross-examination to come.

 

[Dotta]

So, if I understood it correctly -
the accused and his son lived with grandparents.
The boy was fine and happy as photos from this time frame show. Everybody is smiling.

Then, in March they moved to ET's house and in June Arthur died.
From a happy child to a skeleton unable to climb stairs in just 3,5 months?
The abuse must have started from day one and was relentless day after day!
What the jury saw from the camera is only a tip of an iceberg
MOO.

 

[Tortoise]

An update from earlier that I missed - just found it on reading back over the day

14:40JAMES CARTLEDGE
Tustin denies using her pregnancy as a 'weapon' to get her own way
Mr Richmond says Tustin had a four-minute telephone conversation with Hughes while he was in the hospital with Arthur on June 16.

Tustin: "I asked him how Arthur was, if there was a change. Tom told me there was a change, he had a pulse now. He was looking much better. I asked him how he was, he then asked me how I was. Was told the conversation had to be ended and we couldn't contact each other."

Mr Richmond puts it to her she told Hughes she was pregnant and worried about having a miscarriage.

Tustin says Hughes already knew she was pregnant. She accepts she did say she was worried about being stressed but the first thing she asked about was Arthur.

Mr Richmond: "You constantly used the fact you were pregnant as a weapon to get your own way didn't you?"

Tustin: "I never used the fact I was pregnant. I never got my own way, so that's a lie."

Judge Wall raises another question from a juror. He refers to when Tustin texted Hughes on June 16 saying Arthur had 'copped her in the stomach' and she 'shut the door on him'. He asks which door she was referring to because the CCTV showed the living room door to be open.

Tustin states she had previously shut the living room door on Arthur but lied to Hughes she had also done it again on this occasion.

The trial adjourns for lunch.

Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Tortoise]

17:23KEY EVENT
Trial adjourned: Full recap
Forwarding a jury question Judge Wall asks if the tortoise did in fact die?

Tustin says it died around two weeks after Arthur dropped it on the floor.

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow.

For a full recap of today's evidence, click here


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

 

[Smkd]

17:23KEY EVENT
Trial adjourned: Full recap
Forwarding a jury question Judge Wall asks if the tortoise did in fact die?

Tustin says it died around two weeks after Arthur dropped it on the floor.

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow.

For a full recap of today's evidence, click here


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

I had to do a double take, I can’t believe a juror asked if the tortoise died lmao

 

[Noseyjosie]

I had to do a double take, I can’t believe a juror asked if the tortoise died lmao

I'm presuming the juror is thinking if the tortoise did in fact die then that's another reason for Tustin to detest/resent Arthur JMO

 

[Chessgirl]

I'm presuming the juror is thinking if the tortoise did in fact die then that's another reason for Tustin to detest/resent Arthur JMO

I bet Tustin killed the tortoise in a rage. That boy was too weak and scared to kill an animal.

 

[Tinksx]

I’m confident in this jury. The fact that they have picked up on and questioned why ET said she shut the door on Arthur when it wasn’t picked up on cctv so obviously hadn’t happened and have forced her to admit she lied on the stand, gives me confidence that they’re picking up on her other nuances. By the written narrative, she comes across as one of the most narcissistic and self serving “woman” I have read about in a UK case. Her lack of empathy, remorse, compassion astounds me. She has an air of arrogance and cockiness about her from how I’m interpreting this reporting, I can only hope that she is, indeed, displaying this in court also and that it’s not just biased and wishful thinking on my part. I find her narrative and attitude abhorrent….

 

[Smkd]

I bet Tustin killed the tortoise in a rage. That boy was too weak and scared to kill an animal.

Do we know if the tortoise exists? Has anyone seen the tortoise? What was the tortoise’s name?

Honestly, I gave her the benefit of the doubt but the more I read what she’s saying the more I question everything she says. It wouldn’t surprise me if the tortoise was just another excuse to be horrible to Arthur

 

[elliefant]

17:23KEY EVENT
Trial adjourned: Full recap
Forwarding a jury question Judge Wall asks if the tortoise did in fact die?

Tustin says it died around two weeks after Arthur dropped it on the floor.

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow.

For a full recap of today's evidence, click here


Girlfriend accused of murdering boy says: 'I would not kill a child' - updates

That must have been very difficult for a Tortoise to post here

 

[Dotta]

Do we know if the tortoise exists? Has anyone seen the tortoise? What was the tortoise’s name?

Honestly, I gave her the benefit of the doubt but the more I read what she’s saying the more I question everything she says. It wouldn’t surprise me if the tortoise was just another excuse to be horrible to Arthur

She is an unstable mentally person who stopped taking medication prescribed by doctors/psychiatrists.

I once read in Polish Press about the evil mother (mentally disturbed) who created hell for her children, but only when Dad was at work.
When the husband came back home, she was the paragon of loving motherhood.
Such people are cunning and malignant. And very convincing when telling lies.