A mum and her killer boyfriend who caused the death of a ‘wholly defenceless’ three-year-old boy have been unmasked after police released their images for the first time.
Alicia Watson’s ex-boyfriend Nathaniel Pope carried out a brutal and sustained attack on little Kemarni Watson Darby in the house they shared.
Police have now released the first pictures of cruel killer Pope, who was a convicted drug dealer, after he was convicted of murdering the young boy.
Mum Alicia was acquitted of murdering her son but a jury found her guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child, when she appeared before the trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Both defendants, from West Bromwich, were convicted of multiple counts of child cruelty and will be sentenced on May 23.
It comes after jurors heard evidence in a murder trial - which started last December - which told how the tot suffered ‘sustained’ and ‘extremely painful’ beatings.
He was tragically found ‘lifeless’ in the family’s home, according to Birmingham Live, on June 5, 2018.
In a statement released today Detective Inspector James Mahon, who led the investigation, said: “It’s been a horrific case for everyone involved and I’d like to extend my thanks to the jury, who have engaged and considered everything put before them, they are ordinary members of the public who have had to listen to the details of this case for over 10 weeks.
“Kemarni was so young and would not have been able to explain what was happening, or the pain that he was feeling to those that cared for him.
"It’s absolutely awful that the two people who were supposed to look after him the most were those that caused injury, and in the end his death.
“I hope that the conviction of both Pope and Watson today at least gives Kemarni’s loved ones some form of closure.” Watson, 30, of Radnor Road, Handsworth, and Pope, 32, of Evans Street, Wolverhampton, denied murder and multiple child cruelty charges.
Jurors returned their verdicts after a trial which started last December and stretched over 20 weeks. During the trial, prosecutors said Kemarni’s injuries would have required force similar to that caused by a road traffic collision or being stamped on with a ‘shod foot’.
The young boy was left with a ‘plethora’ of severe injuries including multiple fractures to his rib cage, as well as wounds to his liver and colon. Bruising was uncovered on his lungs, head, mouth, neck, arms, chest, abdomen, back and legs.
The ‘catalogue’ of injuries also included scars to the eyes, cheeks, knees and limbs, prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said. The court also heard medical evidence that Kemarni sustained older injuries.
Some of his fractures had already started to heal – evidence that Kemarni was hurt by Watson and Pope on at least four separate occasions in the weeks before he died.
Watson lied to several people about some of her son’s injuries, telling his nursery and other family members he had been hurt in a play fight.
Expert pathologists told jurors it was extremely likely Kemarni suffered fatal injuries when he returned home after a trip to a medical centre earlier in the day. They believed he would not have been able to stand or walk, West Midlands Police added.
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