11:54TONY LARNER
'You are going to hear his side of the story'
Bernard Richmond, representing Hughes, addresses the jury.
He says: "This case is a horrible, horrible case.
"I suspect you look at that dock and you feel revulsion and disgust, and you have been battling that from the moment this case has started.
"One thing that's important is that you don't get into the mindset of 'they, they, they, they'.
"There were two people in this relationship and those two people had different things going on at different times. There are separate trials going on here.
"One thing that is not going to happen in this case is that Thomas Hughes is going to start crying for himself.
"The case we are going to present to you is not expected or intended to create any sympathy for Thomas Hughes. You are going to hear his side of the story."
12:11KEY EVENT
Thomas Hughes takes the stand
Mr Richmond calls Hughes to the stand. He begins by asking a series of questions.
Hughes confirms he got on 'very well' with Arthur prior to summer 2019 and that he was 'well loved'.
Mr Richmond: "A year later he's dead. What on earth happened?"
Hughes: "I met Emma Tustin. Yeah. I met Emma Tustin."
He adds he has learnt 'a lot' about Tustin since then.
Mr Richmond: "How different is your view of those events compared to at the time you were interviewed?"
Hughes: "I think very different."
Mr Richmond asks another series of questions.
Hughes denies he did anything to encourage or support Tustin killing Arthur, causing him serious harm or harming him physically whatsoever.
12:18TONY LARNER
Hughes agrees he hit Arthur as a 'punishment'
Hughes denies he salt poisoned Arthur or encouraged Tustin to do so.
He accepts he 'partly' takes responsibility for Arthur being disciplined by standing or sitting for long periods of time. Hughes also accepts his discipline went beyond what was reasonable.
Hughes accepts he isolated Arthur from the rest of his family but that it was 'sort of taken out of my hands due to the lockdown'.
He agrees he hit Arthur as a 'punishment'. Hughes states he did not hold on to Arthur when he hit him.
He denies ever hitting Arthur to the face or head and tells the court he only struck him to the legs up to the buttocks.
Mr Richmond asks if he ever caused bruises.
Hughes: "I probably did."
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