Harrowing details of ‘assault that broke abused mum and drove her to suicide’

A young mum was found ‘covered in blood’ after being assaulted by her abusive partner just days before he drove her to suicide, a court has heard.

Kiena Dawes, 23, ended her life at a railway line in Lancashire on July 22, 2022, after typing a note in her phone saying, ‘I was murdered… Ryan Wellings killed me’.

Wellings, 30, is now on trial accused of manslaughter in relation to her death, as well as assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.

Jurors have been told his violence, bullying and abuse wore Kiena down, making her more vulnerable to taking her own life, before an assault on July 11 ‘broke her’.

Giving evidence, PC Stephanie Sawyer, who was called to Kiena’s home in Fleetwood, Lancashire, after she had called 999 that morning, said: ‘There was blood on the floor in the communal corridor.

‘Kiena was sat on the floor with the door open with her daughter between her legs. She was covered in blood, on her hands, on her face. She was upset and she was crying. She had a cut to the right side of her head.

‘There was a broken towel rail in the bathroom.’

The officer said she dressed Kiena’s nine-month-old daughter, who was taken to her grandmother’s, and her mother was taken to hospital in Blackpool for treatment.

The mum-of-one told police Wellings had called her a ‘schizophrenic freak’ during the row, had ‘launched’ her into a bathroom radiator causing it to break from the wall and he had slammed the door towards her, hitting her head, causing her to black out and cutting her head.

Wellings was later arrested but said he had tried to restrain her from attacking him.

Kevin O’Rourke, a domestic violence adviser at the hospital, told the court he spoke to Kiena to complete a risk assessment.

His notes of what she told him detailed ‘emotional and physical abuse’, controlling behaviour, telling her to ‘kill herself’ and living ‘in fear’ of Wellings.

There were also earlier incidents of alleged domestic violence but Kiena had decided she did not want to ‘press charges’.

Kiena, a hairdresser, had been diagnosed with an Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), resulting in increased impulsivity, poor self-esteem and difficulty in relationships, the court has heard.

Wellings exploited her mental health condition, it is alleged, and while the condition played a part in her decision to take her own life, so too did his abuse.

The court has heard that the couple met in January 2020 and an ‘intense’ relationship began, Wellings having Kiena’s name and face tattooed on his body a week after first meeting her and proposing marriage within three months.

Wellings denies attacking her and his lawyers say she was a ‘troubled’ woman, whose mental health issues pre-dated meeting him and her decision to kill herself was the result of ‘multiple factors’.

The trial continues.

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