Shocking moment mother claimed her three-year-old son died choking on a cheese bap is revealed as she is convicted of murdering him after scalding and beating him with a bamboo cane ‘because the Bible told her to’

The shocking moment a mother claimed her three-year-old son died choking on a cheese bap has been revealed as she was today found guilty of murdering him after scalding and beating him with a bamboo cane – insisting the Bible told her to.

Christina Robinson, 30, lost her temper and violently shook her son Dwelaniyah at the home in Ushaw Moor, Durham, in November 2022.

The defendant, originally from Tamworth in Staffordshire, has today been convicted of murder and four child cruelty charges.

The jury found that Robinson did cause a fatal brain injury to her son on November 5 2022 while she was the only adult in the house – though she claimed at the time to emergency services he had stopped breathing while eating a cheese bap.

Robinson, a member of the extremist Black Hebrew Israelite religion, admitted hitting the little boy with a bamboo cane but claimed she was following a Bible scripture which advised the use of the rod for the ‘correction’ of children.

She told the court her reason to use the cane was that the youngster was messing around with his food.

In the weeks before Dwelaniyah’s death, she had deliberately immersed him in scalding water, causing severe burns that would have caused excruciating pain.

She treated his injuries herself and did not seek medical help as safeguarding concerns would have been obvious if a health worker saw him.

It was more than 20 minutes before she dialled 999, first speaking to her husband on the phone despite him being away serving with the RAF 240 miles away, and then using Google to look at how to resuscitate a child.

Her chilling 999 phone call was played during the trial, in which she could be heard telling an operator she did not think her son was breathing.

She was recorded saying: ‘He’s only three. He’s not breathing. He was eating and then his eyes just went all weird and then… I’ve been doing CPR for about five minutes.’ 

When the emergency services arrived, Robinson appeared calm as she explained her version of events to a police officer while medics worked desperately on Dwelaniyah.

Despite their efforts at the scene Dwelaniyah could not be saved and probably died at the house, although further attempts to resuscitate him were made in hospital.

A post-mortem examination revealed he had been the victim of a series of assaults and had sustained a number of non-accidental injuries.

Richard Wright, prosecuting, said: ‘In other words, somebody had been deliberately hurting this little boy and had been doing so over a period of time.

‘That person was his mother, the defendant Christina Robinson.’

In his closing speech, Mr Wright told the court: ‘He was subjected to a campaign of violence and cruelty by his mother for petty wrongs.’

Her husband, Dwelaniyah’s father Gabriel Adu-Appau was away from the family home when his son was repeatedly injured and did not play any role in the trial.

His wife was using a sperm donor to try to conceive and, in October 2022, had also made contact with a man named Chisom Innocent Onoja using a dating app.

When she became pregnant, Robinson was in regular contact with health professionals, although she was not willing to get treatment for her son’s injuries.

The former fitness instructor shared her eye-opening views on parenting and discipline in a voice note to her lover – a man she was seeing while her husband was away serving in the RAF.

Police retrieved the message Robinson sent to Chisom Innocent Onoja which said that typically one parent is stricter than the other, but that her husband was not there.

She told him: I have been both father and mother this whole time. I have to split myself, I have to be really, really hard, but then I am the loving, caring one at the same time.

She said that, when children get older, it becomes the role of the father ‘to do the ass-kicking and then that Dwelaniyah was going to get ‘his ass kicked’ for spilling her medication on the floor.

Robinson, who told the court she wanted ‘double figures’ children and had looked into becoming a surrogate mother for a friend, said listening to a religious lesson online led her to beat Dwelaniyah with a cane as a ‘correction’ for messing about with his food.

She said she had since realised she was ‘misguided’ about how to follow the teachings.

She said: ‘I have had the opportunity to get into the Bible more and understand and get to know God more – my relationship with Him is great. Looking back I can see how much of a babe I was then – like a beginner.’

Robinson also claimed not to have realised she was wrong to leave Dwelaniyah at home alone with another boy while she went out shopping or to pick up Mr Onoja from the railway station, leaving the children at risk of fire, accident or a break-in.

The judge Mr Justice Garnham said this afternoon he would sentence Robinson on May 24.

He raised concerns that she no longer had legal representation, after she sacked her barristers and lawyers towards the end of the trial.

He told her: ‘As a result I’m not going to sentence you today. The question arises as to when I should sentence you. Are you willing to or intending to obtain legal assistance for that stage of the process?’

After she replied, ‘I can consider it’, Mr Justice Garnham added: ‘I advise you in the strongest possible terms to consider it very carefully.’

The judge also thanked the jury, some of whom were visibly upset, for their ‘obvious care and attention’, and excused them from further service for 20 years.

He told them: ‘I know from looking at you, this has been a stressful process, you need to get away and do something else, and think about something more cheerful.

‘I am extremely grateful for all you have done.’

Detective Chief Insp Simon Turner, senior investigating officer at Durham Constabulary, said after the verdict that Robinson had come up with a ‘web of lies’ to cover up her unnecessary violence.

He said: ‘A child’s life is precious. Dwelaniyah Robinson had his life sadly taken from him, at just three years of age, having been beaten and abused at the hands of his own mother.

‘She tragically subjected him to repeated lashings with a cane, and submerged him in scalding hot water, resulting in nearly 20 per cent burns.

‘Even after this horrific abuse she failed to seek treatment, leaving him in significant pain. Just weeks later whilst still suffering, he was then subject to a fatal head injury.

‘Christina Robinson lied from the outset, and I am pleased the jury has seen through her lies and convicted her today. 

‘This has been a truly horrific case, that has affected everyone involved. I would like to thank our investigation team for their dedication and commitment to get justice for Dwelaniyah.

‘My thoughts are with those who truly cared about Dwelaniyah. Sadly, nothing can bring him back, but hopefully today’s verdict will provide some closure and allow them to grieve.’