Toddler dies after being viciously beaten and poisoned by mother and boyfriend who 'played video games' instead of helping her
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A mother and her boyfriend reportedly played video games and used Facebook after one or both of them neglected to provide care for a toddler in their care who lay dying as a result of the medicine they had given her to cover up evidence of the beatings they inflicted on her.
Jurors were told that in October 2017, 22-month-old Eve Sutherland died at her residence in Liskeard, Cornwall, with injuries as severe as those caused by a car crash. At the time, mother Abigail Leatherland, 24, and her boyfriend Tom Curd, 31, of Watford, allegedly failed to get help despite the child sustaining a fractured skull, broken ribs, and a split liver, Daily Mail reports.
Instead of tending to the child, the pair "watched TV, played video games, sent each other text messages and chatted with people on Facebook," the Truro Crown Court heard. Post mortem evaluation indicated large amounts of strong adult painkiller codeine, which is almost fatal if ingested by an infant, in Eve's system.