Lauren Saint George and Darren Hurrell, both 25, are accused of shaking their ten-week-old baby to death eight days after she was removed from the hospital against hospital staff’s recommendations.
Both parents deny murder, manslaughter, causing or permitting a child’s death, and cruelty to a person under the age of 16.
Lily-Mai was born prematurely in November 2017 and spent the first two months of her life at Barnet Hospital before being discharged on January 25, 2018, to her parents’ care.
Saint George and Hurrell had been homeless for some years, and staff had attempted to prevent them from bringing Lily-Mai home because they were deemed unable to care for her.
They were shocked when Saint George told staff that she ‘hated’ Lily-noises Mai’s and hoped she’d ‘tear instead of grunt.’
The infant died on February 2, 2018, at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, two days after her parents discovered her unconscious at their house in Belmont Road, Haringey.
Lily-Mai was barely two weeks past a typical pregnant term at 10 weeks and two days old.
On the 12th of January 2018, Haringey social worker Theresa Ferguson was assigned to the case and paid a visit to the family on the 31st of January at approximately 3pm.
She discussed Lily-care Mai’s alternatives with her after a ‘legal gateway meeting’ earlier that day to address the baby’s safety.
The panel’s preferred choice at that meeting was for the family to be placed in a’residential placement,’ which would allow specialists to monitor the parents caring for their child, according to the court.
The arrangement was rejected by Saint George, but jurors were informed that Hurrell was eager to go into a ‘father and baby’ placement.
‘Lily-Mai is my daughter,’ the father reportedly told Ms Ferguson during her visit. If that is what you require of me, I will comply.
‘She is the only child I have. She is the first of my children. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes.’
On hearing the intended placement plan, Saint George, on the other hand, is supposed to have been’very depressed.’
‘You want to take her, just take her,’ she reportedly said in a’monotone’ voice to Ms Ferguson.
After hearing her spouse accept the ‘father and baby’ placement, the mother fled the room and slammed the door behind her, according to the social worker.
Ms Ferguson later testified that Saint George was not “angry or menacing” during the visit, but rather “utterly bolshy and infantile.”
‘I simply thought she needed a little help,’ she explained.
Plans to commence the father and baby placement were to be kicked off following the visit, according to the jury.
‘I had quite a long talk with Darren making it plain that he was not to leave Lily-Mai with Lauren,’ Ms Ferguson said when asked how she felt about Lily-safety Mai’s when she left the flat.
‘He felt he could contact the cops if he needed to, and that there would be somewhere he could stay if he needed to.’
‘I had faith in Darren’s ability to protect Lily-Mai.’
‘I left the address believing that Darren was a protective influence for Lily-Mai,’ Ms Ferguson said in a statement released closer to the time.
When asked about the infant’s appearance at this appointment, Ms Ferguson said the baby seemed pale and speckled.
Hurrell said that the mottling seemed that way because of the light in the room and because Lily-Mai was wearing white, according to the witness.
Jurors heard Saint George dialed 999 to report Lily-had Mai’s fallen hours later, about 9 p.m. that same day.
Ms Ferguson answered a call from Saint George the next day, 1 February, and discovered that Lily-Mai had been transported to the hospital, according to the court.
The social worker started crying and was unable to read her statement out loud.
‘[Saint George] had indicated that Lily-Mai was fighting to breathe and had to call an ambulance and did not know what occurred,’ said prosecutor Sally O’Neill, QC.
‘And she wishes she had seen the signals sooner.’
Ms Ferguson was in her second year as a social worker when she was assigned Lily-case, Mai’s according to the jury.
According to reports, she had 36 open evaluations and 41 assigned cases at the time.
‘You have to follow your boss’s instructions. ‘Wasn’t it true that you had your hands tied?’ Hurrell’s lawyer, Paul Mendelle, QC, inquired.
‘Did you want to do the best you could for the kids in your care?’
‘Yes,’ Ms Ferguson nodded, her eyes welling up with tears.
Saint George, of Bonnington House, Enfield, and Hurrell, of Meadow Lane, Alvaston, Derby, are accused with murder, manslaughter, causing or permitting the death of a child, and cruelty to a person under the age of sixteen.
The trial is still ongoing.