The grandparents of a two-year-old boy have been found guilty of his murder.
Ethan Ives-Griffiths was dangerously dehydrated, severely underweight and had 40 visible bruises or marks when he collapsed with a catastrophic head injury at his grandparents’ home in Flintshire, North Wales, on 14 August 2021.
Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, were convicted of his murder and of cruelty to a child under 16.
Ethan’s mother, Shannon Ives, 28, who had been staying with her son at her parents’ home, was found guilty of causing or allowing his death and of child cruelty.
During the trial at Mold Crown Court, jurors were shown CCTV from the family home which showed Michael Ives carrying his grandson by the top of his arm and appearing to punch him after putting him into a car seat.
Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, described the way Michael Ives was carrying his grandson “as though Ethan was just a bag of rubbish to be slung out”.
The court heard the youngster had been placed on the child protection register, requiring him to be seen every 10 days.
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However, when Shannon Ives last saw her social worker, on 5 August 2021, she spoke to him on the doorstep and told him Ethan was having a nap.
No one answered the door when social worker Michael Cornish went to visit in the days before Ethan’s death and a scheduled appointment with a health visitor on 13 August was cancelled.
Shannon Ives was said to have fled domestic violence from her home in Mold in June that year.
Michael Ives told the jury his daughter was “quick-tempered” and would slap Ethan a couple of times a day, but Shannon Ives claimed her parents were “horrible” and abused her as a child.
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