By Ashley Young And Sammie Jones-
A woman accused of murdering her baby has admitted lying to police in the middle of a lengthy murder trial now in its third week.
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.
Earlier in the week, the jury was again shown CCTV footage, captured at a recycling site in Doncaster on 13 September 2020, showing what the prosecution said appears to be Ms Brockhill lunging at the infant three times in her car.
During Tuesday’s trial, at the beginning of the week, Goddard asked Brockhill about text messages between her and Frankie Smith, one in which
Brockhill said: “She is a very nasty and naughty child and I don’t like them ways.”
Brockhill told the court that she was referring to biting being nasty and naughty.
In another message to Smith, Brockhill said: “You want to get her under control because she’ll wreck your life. She is a brat who thinks nothing of you.”
The toddler, star Hobson’s mother Frankie Smith,( pictured right) 20, and her partner Savannah Brockhill, (pictured left)28, are currently on trial for murder following the death of the 16-month old toddler in September 2020 in a flat in Keighley.
Brochill explained internet searches including “can you die from being winded” and “what happens to the body if it’s not getting enough oxygen” as having been made because Star had winded herself when she fell on to the gearstick as she was “throwing herself”, the defendant claimed.
Shocked jurors heard about a May 17 2020 Snapchat video, in which Brockhill threatened to poaralyse anybody who continued to send messages to her partner. In the video she is heard saying: “Guys and girls need to remember the fact Frankie is with me. She keeps getting a lot of messages and friend requests – she’s not going to accept, especially tramps like yous.
“If you want to keep your kneecaps I would suggest you stop sending her them.”
Psycho
The court was shown a caption beneath the video which said: “I am a psycho when it comes to my girlfriend and wouldn’t mind putting anyone in a chair for the rest of their life if they as much as look at her wrongly. Keep safe don’t message my girlfriend.
During today’s trial, Savannah Brockhill admission to have lied to police during the investigation was as shocking as the crime she is in court for.
Brockhill, 28, of Hawthorn Close, Keighley, was asked directly if she had fatally injured 16-month-old Star on September 22, 2020, in a “moment of anger”.
She was also asked why it took more than 11 minutes to call an ambulance after finding Star injured, and told to explain why she lied to police when interviewed.
Brockhill and co-accused Frankie Smith, 20, of Wesley Place, Keighley – Star’s mother – both deny murder and causing or allowing Star’s death.
Questioning Brockhill today,Thursday, Zafar Ali QC, acting for Smith, read out a transcript of the 999 call Brockhill made, in which she said “obviously I’ve shouted her mum in”.
Mr Ali asked if that meant she was in the room before Smith, to which Brockhill said: “She was stood in the doorway.”
He continued: “You told the doctor at the hospital after Star died you were first into the living room as you were in the kitchen.”
Brockhill answered: “I told her I was the first to pick her up.”
Mr Ali added: “DC Neesham said you were in the kitchen and got into the living room first.”
Brockhill said: “No we were in the living room at the same time.”
“So he is wrong then,” asked Mr Ali, to which Brockhill replied, “yes”.
Mr Ali also put to her that paramedics and a nurse all gave evidence she had pointed to her abdomen and said that was where she had administered CPR, and asked if that was right.
Tragic: Star Hobson died in the hands of the accused.
Brockhill denied this, and said she demonstrated her hand position on the chest, and “my hand covered all of Star’s little body”.
Mr Ali said: “You wanted to dress it up like an accident, gesturing to your abdomen because she was attacked there and it was you who attacked her.”
“No, that is not correct,” Brockhill said.
“When you visited and Smith went to the toilet it was the first time you’d seen Star alone since Sept 14,” Mr Ali said.
“For whatever reason, in a moment of anger, you picked up where you left off, punching Star in the abdomen probably more than once. In hospital you sank to your knees because you murdered her.”
Brockhill said this was not true.
Alistair MacDonald QC, who took on cross examination, questioned Brockhill about her state of mind when she found Star on the floor, floppy and struggling to breathe, before going rigid.
“She must have been fatally injured by this point,” he said, “did you not realise you have a major emergency on your hands?”
Brockhill replied “no”.
Google Search
The court heard Brochill made a Google search for “bringing a baby out of shock” and the 999 call was not made for another 11 minutes.
She had also searched ‘can a baby die from being winded?’
Mr MacDonald asked why it took so long to call 999 for a “critically ill child”.
Brockhill answered: “I was tending to Star. What do you want me to do, leave a child and ring 999?
“How do you expect me to give an account for 11 minutes? Written down it sounds a lot quicker than it was, you could read that out in 30 seconds.
“It seems a long time here but at the time it doesn’t seem like very long at all, the paramedics said that.”
He also examined police interviews, where Brockhill denied knowledge of The Sun pub incident where she punched Smith.
Asked why she denied knowledge of it, Brockhill said it was “irrelevant”, before saying she was “confused at the time” when shown the transcript of the interview.
Mr MacDonald asked: “The officer says, you punched Frankie in the face. You say, no I didn’t.
“But you have told this jury you do remember striking her. So this was a lie.”
Brockhill answered: “Yes I lied.”
Misleading Answers
She also admitted giving misleading answers to because they were “irrelevant to Star’s death” were police asking if she had any vehicles other her blue van, ie. the Dacia Duster, and about her work patterns.
One video footage of the toddler showed star falling off a chair, then in her food, and then standing up.
Brochill admitted the baby was exhausted and salivating.
In one episode filmed, Star appears to be nodding off to sleep. Food can be seen falling out of her mouth. Her head gradually droops lower and lower as she falls asleep before eventually coming to rest in her bowl of food.
Brochill was asked if she though the baby’s actions was funny, to which she replied no. When asked why she filmed it, she replied, I put it on Snapchat and said that’s what happens when a baby doesn’t sleep.
Another video clip showed the toddler falling off the chair and crashing her head into the floor .
Asked if she thought it was funny, she replied: ‘It was at the time’
Asked if she still thought it was funny, she replied, ‘No’
Instead of helping her, you just took videos of her falling off her chair for amusement.
During questioning from her barrister, Kath Goddard QC, Brockhill said she had become concerned about Star’s behaviour as she had been pinching and biting herself.
The court was shown video footage of Brockhill and Star inside a car at a recycling plant in Doncaster where she had been working. The prosecution says the footage shows Brockhill punching Star.
Brockhill said the video showed Star biting herself while she was trying to give her a drink of juice.
The trial continues
P.S: Both named authours contributed to this article