Man, 25, 'suffocated his girlfriend's son with baby car seat'
A toddler was crushed to death by an electric car seat because his mother’s boyfriend was annoyed that he was making too much noise, a court has heard.
Three-year-old Alfie Lamb was in the rear footwell of an Audi car when he was squashed “at the touch of a button” on February 1, 2018, the court was told.
Stephen Waterson, 25, who was in the front passenger seat, allegedly pushed his seat back twice in anger at the “noise and fuss”.
Alfie’s mother, Adrian Hoare, 23, who was in the seat behind her son, is charged with manslaughter alongside Mr Waterson.
The driver, Marcus Lamb, 22, and his then-girlfriend Emilie Williams, 19, who was in the back with Ms Hoare, are due to give evidence against them.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said a pathologist found the boy had died from crush asphyxia.
“It was caused by the front passenger seat of the Audi vehicle, Waterson’s seat, being moved back further into the rear passenger side footwell at a time when, as was known, Alfie was in that footwell,” Mr Atkinson said.
“In effect, he was squashed by the car seat and suffocated.”
Ms Hoare had a duty of care to Alfie but did “nothing” to help him, Mr Atkinson said.
Both defendants went on to lie to police about what happened, the court heard.
An ambulance and police had been called to Adams Way in Croydon, south London, to investigate a report of an unresponsive child on the evening of February 1, 2018.
Police found CCTV footage which showed that Ms Hoare, Ms Williams, Mr Lamb and Mr Waterson had all travelled together to Adams Way in a dark Audi car.
Since then the other occupants of the car had been attacked, Miss Williams by Hoare and Mr Lamb by Mr Waterson, the court heard.
Ms Hoare denies manslaughter, child cruelty and common assault on Miss Williams.
Mr Waterson has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and intimidation of Mr Lamb.
The couple and Ms Williams have pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice by making false statements to police.
