Paramedics who attended to little Ethan Ives-Griffiths, who died at the age of just two years old, described how the emaciated toddler looked like a ’90-year-old man’, while experts have shed some light on his painful final days
At the time of his death in August 2021, little Ethan Ives-Griffiths had been “thoroughly miserable”, Mold Crown Court has heard, with the last few days of his short life.
The two-year-old died after suffering “catastrophic head injury” at his home in North Wales, which he suffered while in the care of his grandparents, Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, the court heard.
Prosecutors alleged that the pair, both of Garden City, Flintshire, brutally beat their young grandson to death before attempting to pin the blame on their own daughter. They have been charged with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a child.
Ethan’s mother, Shannon Ives, 28, had been upstairs using her mobile phone at the time Ethan sustained his grave injuries. She has been charged with causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a child, while the prosecution agreed she was not responsible for the beating. All three defendants deny the charges they face.
Meanwhile, jurors at Ethan’s murder trial, which is expected to last six weeks, heard harrowing details about how the toddler spent his final days alive.
Toddler ‘beaten to death by grandparents’ while mum was upstairs on her phone
The court heard how Ethan had been placed on the child protection register just one month before his tragic death, with social workers informing his mother that the child would need to be seen every 10 days.
After he was found collapsed on the floor at the family home, the little boy was discovered to be “severely underweight and covered in bruises”.
A paramedic at the scene noted that the child looked emaciated and had three bruises in a hand shape. They remarked: “He looked like a 90-year-old man with dark, recessed eyes and gaunt.”
The tot was rushed to the Countess of Chester Hospital and then transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for brain surgery, but died shortly after his arrival. Neither of his grandparents offered a “plausible explanation” as to how Ethan ended up with such serious injuries, the court heard.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC asserted that the “culmination of emotional and physical abuse on him by the people who should have cared for him most.”
Mrs Rees also said: “The prosecution say Ethan’s time at the first and second defendants’ home was thoroughly miserable and he was targeted by the defendants as an object of abuse and neglect.”
Ethan weighed just 10kg at the time of his death, while a post-mortem determined that he’d sustained 40 injuries, none of which were fractures.
Ms Rees told jurors that Ethan died from fatal head injuries from a deliberate blow and a forceful shaking injury. She said: “He was quiet and withdrawn, small and painfully thin.”
Adding that the toddler had been exposed to “casual brutality”, Ms Rees went on to cite a medical expert’s opinion that he would have experienced “distress, pain and misery in the days and weeks prior to his death”.
She added: “The prosecution say what must have been a forceful attack on Ethan that night was the culmination of physical and emotional neglect and abuse upon him by those who should have cared for him the most.”
Ms Rees told the court that Shannon Ives had known her parents “represented a significant risk of physical harm” to her son but “took no steps to protect her child”. In an interview, she stated she was frightened of her parents and was aware that they were abusive.
Addressing jurors, Ms Rees said: “She had seen them shaking Ethan in anger on many occasions. She said she was petrified of her father in particular.” The court heard how Kerry Ives only rang 999 20 minutes after Ethan collapsed, ringing he daughter instead in what has been viewed as a “potentially significant move”.
The court also viewed brief CCTV footage taken outside the house, which prosecutors said “shines a light on the abuse and neglect suffered by Ethan”.
This “harrowing” garden footage showed Michael Ives treating Ethan roughly and dragging him around “like a rag doll”. During their police interviews, both grandparents claimed Ethan was a child “who would fall over fresh air”, describing him as “clumsy”.
As told to the court by Ms Rees, experts concluded there had probably been repeated assaults, with the “sad likelihood” that the last injury had been “beyond survivable”.
The trial continues.
Tot’s final weeks full of ‘misery’ before ‘murder’ as grandparents blame his mum
