A mother and her partner have been jailed for at least 35 years following the death of her three-year-old son who suffered "car crash-like" injuries during a campaign of "horrendous" cruelty. Little Kemarni Watson Darby was discovered by paramedics lifeless on a bedroom floor at a "flat of horrors" in West Bromwich, West Midlands, on June 5, 2018.
He had suffered more than 20 rib fractures, internal injuries and bruising as a result of a "horrific" campaign of abuse at the hands of Nathaniel Pope and Alicia Watson. The youngster died from internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma and his injuries were so severe the force used was compared to that of a car crash or a fall from height.
A court heard how Pope had used electrical wire to keep Kemarni trapped in his bedroom before he finally "lost it" and battered the youngster to "shut him up". He had smoked cannabis and then left the tot to bleed to death on the family sofa until Watson returned from the school run to discover his lifeless body.
