A Nigerian man has been accused of battering a 5-year-old boy to death over the whereabouts of his trainers.
The five-year-old was reported to have been battered to death in a park by the Nigerian man who is a boyfriend to the son’s mother.
According to report, the Nigerian man,Marvyn Iheanacho, 39, felw into a rage at the park after the boy, Alex Malcolm, lost one of his trainers on 20 November, 2016 leading to fatal head and stomach injuries.
A witness told the court that the boy during the violent attack was heard pleading with his mother’s boyfriend.
Th witness recalled hearing the “child’s fearful voice saying sorry” followed by loud banging, and a man screaming about the loss of a shoe.
Prosecutors maintained that the loud banging which was heard may have been due to the repeated assaults on the boy which occurred in Mountsfield park, Catford, South-east London.
Prosecutor, Eleanor Laws QC said: “The prosecution say that he died at the hands of this defendant, a man who was looking after him, acting as his stepfather, but who on the afternoon/early evening of November 20 last year, lost his temper and violently assaulted the boy, causing him fatal head and stomach injures.”
On the jury panel for the case were seven men and five women. One of the witnesses, Sarah Strugnell, recalled that she saw Iheanacho bend down to the child and ask where his shoes were.
“The man was very angry indeed and Sarah Strugnell describes how he was raging at the child who was very quiet.”
Presiding over the case, Judge Mark Dennis QC noted that the trial will last between two and three weeks.