Gay fitness instructor killed 18 month old daughter he called ‘Satan in a baby grow’, court told
A gay fitness instructor killed an 18 month old baby girl after adopting her, a court has been told.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, is accused of inflicting serious injuries on baby Elsie before her death.
He called the baby “satan dressed up in a baby grow,” and inflicted months of abuse on the baby, a court heard.
The couple first adopted Elsie in September 2015 and the adoption process was finalised nearly eight months later.
But less than two weeks later baby Elsie died after suffering traumatic head injuries.
Elsie died at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, after the decision was taken to turn off ventilators.
Doctors felt the one-year-old would not survive based on the head injuries she had incurred, with bleeding found on both sides of her brain.
After the tragic death police examined electronic devices belonging to Scully-Hicks.
The court heard that the 31-year-old messaged a friend to say, “I’m going through hell with Elsie” 12 days after adopting her.
“Mealtimes and bedtime are like my worst nightmare at the moment.
“She’s been up there screaming for 10 minutes non stop. She’s just stopped but I doubt that’s the last I’ll hear tonight.”
He sent a message to his husband, Craig, who he married in 2012, calling the baby a “pyscho”.
On September 29 2016 he messaged his husband to call the baby, “Satan dressed up in a baby grow”, the court heard.
Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said: “Elsie was found unresponsive by paramedics after Scully-Hicks attacked her at his home in Fairwater, Cardiff, on May 25 last year.
Mr Lewis said: “The injuries that caused her death were inflicted upon her by the defendant shortly before he called emergency services that day.
“His attack upon her that day was not the first time he had employed violence towards Elsie, nor was it the first time he had caused her serious injury.
“His actions on the late afternoon of May 25 were the tragic culmination of a course of violent conduct on his part towards a defenceless child – an infant that he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused, and ultimately murdered.”
The jury was told all medical experts agreed her injuries were consistent with non-accidental injury.
Dr Nia John, a consultant paediatrician, said it would be “unusual” to suffer two such fractures in the same fall, the court heard.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, formerly of Llandaff, Cardiff, and now of Delabole, Cornwall, denies murder.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
