Woman, Girlfriend On Trial For Killing Toddler By Performing 'Choke Slams' On Her

A 20-year-old mother and her girlfriend were accused of performing "choke-slam" on the former's little girl, killing the toddler.

Frankie Smith and her girlfriend Savannah Brockhill, 28, denied charges of murder Wednesday during their hearing on Bradford Crown Court in the U.K., according to Express.co.uk.

The victim, Star Alyssa Hobson from Keighley, West Yorkshire, died on Sept. 22, 2020, at a hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. The court was told on Wednesday that Hobson was kicked, stamped and slammed prior to her death.

Smith's half-sister Alicia Szepler revealed during the court proceedings that the couple would "chokeslam" the child and call "names that shouldn't be said to a child," Telegraph & Argus reported. "Star would do a fake laugh and Smith would say, 'Shut up you little c*** laughing like that'," Szepler told the court, according to the outlet.

When asked by the prosecutor to give more insights into the kind of torture Hobson faced at the hands of Smith and her girlfriend, Szepler said: "They would do this thing with Star called the ‘choke-slam." Szepler added that it appeared to her as a pretty harsh thing to do to a baby. "I said it’s a bit rough to be doing to a baby."

When Hobson's grandmom confronted Smith about the assault, she said that the choke-slam would "toughen up Star," the court heard.

Smith's mom, Yvonne Spendley, also told the court that she "would not stick up for her daughter" if the court deems her daughter responsible for the death of the baby. Smith's mom told the court that on one occasion, the child was also made to face the wall after she refused to eat her meals.

The court heard that Brockhill and Smith often fought with each other. Brockhill reportedly texted Smith: "I can't be bothered with you and the tramps of a family you have," the text read. "My family always said stop mixing with a lower class I should have listened. Get gone you little vermin, you bad omen. Your family was right about you, you need Lynfield Mount."

Brockhill allegedly also called Hobson "very nasty and naughty child" and "a brat who thinks nothing of you."

When medics arrived at the property, they reportedly saw Hobson lying dead wearing just a disposable nappy. Alistair McDonald, prosecuting, told the court that Star suffered injuries so gruesome that "there was never any real chance of saving her life."

McDonald told the court that the child's injuries included fractures to her shin, ribs and skull as well as lacerations to a vein carrying blood between her leg and organs that leaked into her abdominal cavity, according to Express.co.uk.

The trial continues.