By Ashley Young-
The jury in the gripping murder trial of Star Hobson has been sent out to begin deliberations today in the trial of the alleged murder of 16-month-old toddler Star Hobson.
Reporters from local and national news outlets are waiting patiently in a nearby cafe, whilst television crews wait anxiuosly in vans for the verdict in this disturbing case.
The 11-person jury will have to unanimously agree on the fates of defendants Savannah Brockhill and Frankie Smith.
Brockhill, 28, of Hawthorn Close, Keighley, and Smith, 20, of Wesley Place, Keighley, are both charged with murdering Star – Smith’s daughter – and also with causing or allowing her death. They deny all charges.
Star died on September 22, 2020, four months after her first birthday from catastrophic abdominal injuries caused by blunt force trauma.
Prosecutor Alistair McDonald told the jury Star had suffered a catalogue of injuries including fractures to her shin, ribs and skull, as well as lacerations to a vein carrying blood between her leg and organs which leaked into her abdominal cavity.
A vein from her leg and organs had been lacerated or torn. That led to bleeding into her abdominal cavity. That laceration of the vein had caused 300ml of blood to leak into her abdomen.
Jurors have endured eight weeks of horrifying evidence which included footage of spiteful treatment against the young toddler, and google searches from the accused which seem to implicate them for ill intensions towards the toddler.
A vein from her leg and organs had been lacerated or torn. That led to bleeding into her abdominal cavity. That laceration of the vein had caused 300ml of blood to leak into her abdomen.
Forensic pathologist Dr Christopher Johnson said a “blow or blows, likely a punch, kick or stamp, delivered with a severe degree of force” caused a 2cm x 2cm laceration to Star’s inferior vena cava.
He said the main vein brought blood back to the heart from the lower body which would have led to death “in minutes” and was “unsurvivable”.
During the extensive trial, jurors have heard a copious amount of evidence, from members of Frankie Smith’s and Savannah Brockhill’s families, friends, medical experts, police officers, a linguistic expert specialising in the English-Romany language, and a security trainer.
Jurors at Bradford Crown Court had to endure footage of several videos, recorded by Smith and Brockhill, and also taken from CCTV. They heard hundreds of messages between the pair, saw scores of photographs and heard recordings of the 999 call and a phone conversation between the defendants.
Some of the footage were hard to watch, and showed the young child looking troubled and uncomfortable on a number of occassions.
One of the scenes in the videos, filmed by both defendants showed Star falling off a chair and hitting the floor and footage of Ms Smith shouting at the girl.
Smith told the jury she was not in the room when Star suffered the fatal injuries and did not suspect Ms Brockhill until she reassessed the situation in prison.
Ms Brockhill described how she ran into the room after hearing a thud and found Star on the floor groaning. She said she administered CPR to the youngster and called 999.
Relatives and friends of Ms Smith told the jury of concerns they had over bruises they saw on Star, some of which they filmed. Jurors were told that a number of referrals were made by them to social services from January 2020.
In her summary, High Court Judge, The Honourable Dame Justice Christina Lambert QC told the jury to put their emotions to one side and consider the evidence in the case objectively.
She went through the important evidence in the case, telling the jury to make their own interpretations of the trustworthiness of the evidence they have heard, and to view any footage they have been shown through the trial with fresh eyes.
He also showed CCTV footage and presented medical evidence delivered by a number of experts in pathology.
Savannah Brockhill spent days on the witness stand giving her version of events under cross-examination, maintaining she never assaulted Star at any time during Star’s life and contradicitng herself on some occassions.
The court also heard from a psychologist who told the court Smith had a low IQ of 70 and was highly compliant, though it was also suggested she could have been faking, and giving a false picture of her IQ.
They also heard how Savannah had described young Toddler as being a pain.
Star Hobson suffered a cardiac arrest and died in a West Yorkshire hospital on 22 September 2020. She old jurors CCTV of her lunging at the baby showed her trying to stop the infant from harming herself.