Mother ‘told choking three-year-old son to ‘shush’ as he was crushed to death between her legs in Audi rear footwell when her boyfriend in front reversed seat ‘as far as it could go’
A mother told her three-year-old son to be quiet as he was crushed to death by her boyfriend deliberately moving his car seat back, a court heard today.
Alfie Lamb’s head was wedged between the rear seat and the front passenger seat when Stephen Waterson twice moved his chair back ‘as far as it could go,’ a court heard.
The three-year-old sobbed and cried out ‘mummy’ when he was crushed by up to 81kg of pressure and started making ‘choking’ noises in the car.
Witness Emilie Williams, 19, who was sitting in the back seat of the Audi, claims Alfie’s mother told him to ‘shush’ after Waterson moved his seat into him for the second time.
Waterson, 25, and Alfie’s mother Adrian Hoare, 23, are accused of manslaughter after Alfie was crushed, starving his brain of oxygen and causing him to fall unconscious.
Alfie died three days after suffering a cardiac arrest at the couple’s home in Croydon, south London.
Waterson is alleged to have become irate as the boy was complaining he did not have enough room during the journey as he sat in the back footwell, between his mother’s legs.