'You are a danger to my family': Hounslow man alleged to have battered ex-partner's five-year-old son to death 'knew exactly what he was doing', court hears

A Hounslow man, who allegedly beat his ex-partner's five-year old son to death, "knew exactly what he was doing", a court has heard.

The boy's mum, Lilya Breha, told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday (July 11) of how her then-partner Marvin Iheanacho punched her hard in the face while her son Alex Malcolm lay fatally injured at her Catford flat.

Alex died two days later in hospital on November 22, 2016.

"I was standing by the bed and he was sitting by the bed next to Alex," said Ms Breha. "And I said to him: 'You are a danger to my family'.

"Just seeing what state Alex was in, I knew that he had hit him. I know whatever he did, he was doing, was premeditated."

She also said Iheanacho had given differing accounts of how Alex became injured, including one claim he fell from a climbing frame in the play area, another he fell off his shoulders, and another the boy had fainted and hit his head.

He also said the bruises on Alex's face were as a result of him trying to wake the boy up, she told the court.

Giving evidence from behind a curtain, she said: "Whatever he did to Alex, I feel he knew exactly what he was doing. I never asked him to take my son to the park."

Iheanacho, 39, of Hounslow, is accused of causing Alex fatal head and stomach injuries during a violent assault on the evening of November 20 last year. He denies murdering the boy.

The jury had previously been told witnesses heard a child's fearful voice saying "sorry", loud banging, and a man screaming about the loss of a shoe.

Prosecutors say the banging could have been from "repeated assaults" on Alex in Mountsfield Park in Catford.

Ms Breha recalled Iheanacho was "holding Alex like a baby" when he returned to the flat by taxi from the park.

Alex was missing a shoe and she began screaming as Alex was "unconscious and his face was disgusting".

'Hardest punch'

She told the court she kept on shouting at Iheanacho: "What have you done?"

Alex was put in the bath to try and revive him, jurors heard.

Then Ms Breha said Iheanacho, whom she had started dating in June and thought had been a good father figure to her son, hit her with the "hardest punch I had in my life".

She later told the jury that he "tried to strangle me, pretty much his intention was to try kill me, is all I can say".

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